Why I Blog

I wondered today whether I'll be as expressive with Elijah when he is older.  In some ways I love the relationship we have right now that I don't want him to grow up.  But that would just be silly.  He's going to make a wonderful, wonderful adult and it would be a crime for the world not to know him as a man.

Nevertheless, after he passes a certain age, I'll bet he won't be that interested (at least outwardly) in how I feel about him; and around that same time, I'll probably get hesistant about expressing my love for him too.  Well....it's largely because I know that time is coming that I want to blog about him as much as I can now.  I hope that I'm wrong and that in some way I'll be able to let him know that I love him and he'll be interested.  But even if that's not possible, I hope that he'll be able to read this blog and know how much his dad cherishes every moment with him.

Shoba Niranyo

When Eli finishes his bath these days we wrap two towels around him....one draped over his head and the other wrapped around his body.  He has the option of being a Thirumeni (bishop), Achen (priest) or Jedi Knight (jedi knight), and lately he's been choosing Achen.  When we pick him up out of the bath tub we usually spend a moment looking in the mirror and Eli says "Dada, I want to sign shoba niranyo"....which is his reference to the call to worship that usally starts our church services.   It's so cute because he makes me sing the whole thing and he tries his best to sing along too.

A funny side story I just got from Gina is this: Gina and Eli were on their way to Chicago and Gina told Eli that his velyappacha (great grandfather) was there but that he only spoke Malayalam.  She asked Eli if he could speak in malayalam to velyappacha....and Eli said "Mama, I will say 'Shoba Niranyo'".  Unbelievable, this kid.

Wha some this?

Kind of in the manner of his prior "or some" phase (see post a few months ago) he's recently been saying "Wha some this?" when he wants to know what something is.  It's too funny and if I can capture and figure out how to post an audio clip I will.  I don't know where this linguistic obsession with "some" came from, but it's hilarious.

I Will Make Her Ticklish

Yesterday when I was driving Eli home from his grandparents' house, I told him that his mom was sad because one of her friends had gotten some bad news.  Here's a pretty close transcript of how it went:

Me: Hey buddy...when we get home we have to give mama a big hug because she is sad

(a few seconds pause)
Eli: Mama is cwying?

Me: No, but she is feeling sad because her friend is sad.

Eli: Mama's fwend is cwying?

Me: I think so.

Eli:  Dada?

Me: Yea, bud

Eli: Have to say "s'ok mama"

Me: Ok buddy....we can do that as soon as we get home.

Eli: Dada? I want to do that wight now.

Me: Well we can't buddy, we're in the car.  When we get home you can give mama a big hug and tell her you love her.

Eli: I will say "love you, miss you, kiss you".

Me: Ok buddy you do that.  And since she's sad we'll have to make her laugh and feel better.  Can you do that?

Eli: Dada?

Me: Yea.

Eli: I will tickle her.

Me (trying to hide my laugh): Great idea, buddy.  You do that.

Eli: Yea!  I will make her ticklish!

And he did.  What a cute kid.

Really....sit nexta me

I forgot to write about the title in my last post.  So whenever he is eating anything he wants me to sit next to him really close.  I can't resist when he says "Dada....can you sit nexta me" and then pulls another chair close to his.  He even does this with the little chairs at his table in the basement....needless to say sitting on those can be a bit of a challenge.  He also loves to play chest.....otherwise known as chess.  We have a chess board set up downstairs and he says "Dada....i will take your horsie" and then I take one of his and we go back and forth.  Later on we'll trade each other to get our favorite pieces back.  He knows which pieces are pawns, rooks and the king.  I taught him about the bishop pieces, but he calls them christmas trees...speaking of which...

He LOVES Christmas trees.  We put one up at our house and he just sits in front of it and stares.  He loves all of the different ornaments and, of course, the lights.  We have already put presents under the tree and Eli goes and rips the bows off and tells me that the bow fell off....yea right.  We're trying to figure out what to get him for Christmas because we want it to be something he loves.  A lot of folks are getting him musical gifts because he loves music so much....guitar from my parents, piano from Shirley.  this morning we were watching Barney's Band together and he said "Dada...can you buy a saxophone for me?  and a trombone too?"  I would love to...but perhaps when he's a bit older.  It's great being a dad.

Sit nexta me

Continuing previous threads....Eli has been really into me lately.  He comes over and grabs my hand and makes me come into the family room to join him in whatever he's doing....drawing on his MagnaDoodle, dancing to Barney's Band or playing catch.  Catch is a lot of fun with him.....he catches about 1 out of every 4 I throw him and loves playing.  He also likes to slam dunk a tennis ball into a basket.

My latest trick with him is a disappearing act.  He thinks I can make two tennis balls disappear and then suddenly they appear in my mouth and I cough them out.  I tried the trick the other day and he loved it; Gina wasn't fooled, though.

He loves watching Barney.  There's one episode in which Barney and the gang learn about marching bands....and whenever it's on Eli grabs his toy instruments and marches around with them.  He's so cute and I'm doing my best to get it on video.....more classic footage for the wedding video.