digging for diamonds

Not long ago we went to Crater of Diamonds state park. I got my own bucket to carry dirt in. As soon as we found a spot to start digging, mama showed me how to use my bucket by putting a chunk of dirt in it. I completely misunderstood and thought she was putting food in the bucket, so I immediately pulled the chunk of dirt out of the bucket and put it in my mouth. Pretty soon my tongue was all gray and I was slobbering dirt. It was yucky. And mama wouldn't let me nurse to get it out of my mouth. She is very mean. Since I knew that the dirt was no fun to eat I got out my o's instead. I put them in the bucket and then dumped them all over the ground. I am sure that some other kids will find those o's and will be much more excited about them than some silly old diamond. Later I went with dada to wash out some of the dirt to see if there were any diamonds in it. There was a big mud puddle nearby and another little boy was playing in it. I was very excited about this and kept pointing at the puddle, so mama took off my shoes and my socks and rolled up my pants. I held her hand all the way over there because I did not want to go by myself. But once I felt the water on my toes I realized I did not want to play in the puddle after all. So we watched the other little boy play and then pretty soon I fell asleep in mama's lap and this is where I spent the rest of the afternoon. No diamonds for us but it was fun anyway.

Love, Elijah

shopping

When I go shopping I have this comfy seat to sit in. It has a seatbelt, pockets for my drink, and plenty of room for my o's and crackers. It is nice and cushy. Supposedly it is protecting me from germs but I get sick anyway. It also has toy loops that mama used to keep toys on for me to play with, but now that I am big I am not interested in them anymore. Instead I like to look at all of the things in the store. I point out things to mama and dada that they would totally miss otherwise. Like the other day I kept pointing behind mama and making the sign for fish (which looks very much like the way I do the sign for bird and light so she was a little confused), I was insistent that we go over there. She would have completely missed the fish! I am sure to point out all of the balloons, trucks, vacuums, fans, babies, lights, and balls that I see when we are shopping. I love shopping because all of the ladies in the store will smile at me and I can pretend to be shy and flirt with them.

Love, Elijah

my new puppy

This is my new puppy. He is a chocolate lab. He doesn't have a name yet. He is not coming to live with us until next week because he is still hanging out with his mama. When his mama is done giving him num-nums then he will come to live with us. I hope that when my mama is done giving me num-nums I don't have to go live with someone else because I would miss my mama and my dada. My puppy is very little and very soft. I gave him kisses. His mama and dada were very cool. I liked them very much. They would sniff me through the fence and when they barked I would laugh. My puppy will be as big as they are one day, which is very big. I can't wait until my new puppy comes to live with us so I can give him kisses everyday.

Love, Elijah

the bestest most fabulous toy ever

I now have my very own vacuum. It is the bestest vacuum ever. I push it all over the house. It has a button I can push on it to turn it on. It even has a light on it so I can see where I am vacuuming. My vacuum lives in the front closet with the other vacuum. Every night we put it away and say night-night to the vacuum, and then first thing in the morning I run to the closet to get it out. The first night I had it I played with it for an hour, and then first thing the next morning I remembered it as soon as I woke up. It is my very own vacuum and I love it very much.

In the last picture I am making the sign for vacuum which I do by bending my elbow and moving my arm very fast.

Love, Elijah

crackers

One of my favorite snacks is crackers. Here I am making the sign for cracker and saying "da" which can mean a lot of things but in this it case meant cracker. I love triscuits and I love multigrain wheat thins. One time when I was at the grocery store with mama and dada I was walking down the aisle when all of a sudden I realized I was in the cracker aisle. I got very excited because I recognized some of the boxes. I carefully chose a box of triscuits and brought it to mama and she put it in the cart. Then I turned around and grabbed another box so that mama could put that one in the cart too. There were lots of boxes and I think they all needed to be put in the cart so that we could take them home because I love crackers.

Love, Elijah

tasty toes

Sometimes I get really bored in the car. When this happens all I have to do is chew on my toes. I take off my socks and my shoes and chew away. It makes me laugh because it tickles so much. It's absolutely hilarious so I giggle like crazy.

Love, Elijah

another favorite toy

Today when mama got out of the shower I was playing with a new toy, the toilet brush. It was hiding all the way in the corner behind the toilet. I don't know why anyone would hide such a cool toy. It's really cool because it has a long handle and a brush at the end, and I can hold it way out in front of me and hit stuff with it. I showed mama all of the things I had been doing with it while she was in the shower: I hit it against the bathtub, the scale, the toilet, the counter. Mama was just glad that I was holding the handle end and not the brush end.

Love, Elijah

so big

One of my favorite games is How Big is Elijah. Mama and dada will ask me this and then I will spread my arms wide and say in a really high-pitched voice "Dough!" which means So Big! I love this game so much that I start it all the time. Sometimes even when I am having num-nums I will stop and get mama to say So Big! to me. One day I will learn to stick my arms straight up instead of out to the side when we play this, but for now I like to play this way.

Love, Elijah

yardwork

Here I am helping dada with the yardwork. I am very helpful. Yesterday dada was working by the vegetable garden so I threw rocks in the garden because I am sure that it what he wants to grow there. Then I was looking at the fountain and I realized that it needed rocks in it so I walked all the way across the yard to pick up some rocks and all the way back across the yard to throw them in the fountain. I did this several times and then I figured why bother with the rocks, I can just use my hands and I splashed around like crazy. I got soaking wet and my shoes got all muddy and I loved it.

Love, Elijah

too cute

I am such the little model, I should be on a runway. Mama always has a camera in my face, so I would definitely be ready for it. Ha!

Love, Elijah

more very important jobs

My newest job around the house is Closing Doors. Around the house I am very good at closing doors. Mama and dada just have to tell me to close the door and I run over to do it! So far I have never caught my fingers in the doors. Sometimes when I am playing I will close the door to the room and find that I am by myself and I don't know how to open it. This is okay unless it is dark, then it is kind of scary so I have to holler for someone to come open the door for me.

I am learning another job, Opening Doors. If someone will turn the handle then I can help push the door open. I am very good at opening the car door however. This is because I love to go (I like to say it "dough") so I think that if I help open the door maybe we can get going faster. If mama forgets to let me help open the door I will complain and remind her it is my job and she will close the car door so that I can help.

Love, Elijah

my cousin and his puppy

My cousin came to visit a few days ago. He is very much fun. He was always trying to hug me but I was not sure that I always liked it. Sometimes we were playing and I would all of a sudden be flat on my back. He is hard to keep up with because he is almost three and he is very much bigger than I am. One day I will be big too. The best part was that he brought his puppy with him. His puppy is only eight months old but he is really big. I was very excited to see him. I made the sign for dog a lot and said "dog" to him all the time. Mama and dada said we might get our own puppy soon. I am looking forward to this very much.

Love, Elijah

the front yard

I absolutely love to be outside. When we come home I complain pretty loudly if mama makes me go in before I can get a good run around the front yard. I love to go up and down the driveway. Sometimes I head down the sidewalk and go up the neighbor's driveway too. Mama always says "eh" if I get too close to the street. So sometimes I point at the street and say "eh" back to her because I know I am not supposed to go there. We live on a quiet street and mama always makes me come close to her if a car is coming. There are lots of things to explore in the yard- the grass, the trees, the bushes, and sometimes the kitty. I love it out there.

Love, Elijah

blogging

Here are pictures of me blogging lest any of you think it is not actually me writing all this. I take my computer time very seriously and voice my opinion very loudly if I am not allowed to spend some time on the computer everyday. My favorite websites at the moment are those with pictures of vacuums.

Love, Elijah

mud puddle

The other day we were at the park and I found a mud puddle. It had rained the day before and so the ground was really muddy. I had never seen a mud puddle before and I found it fascinating. I held mama's hands because it was slippery and I stepped in the puddle, then out of the puddle, one foot, both feet, in, out, around, in, out, one foot, both feet. It was a ton of fun. I loved the way my shoes looked in the mud and it was so squishy and I loved the way it squished under my shoes. Then mama turned her back for a second and boom! I sat down in the mud. Mama managed to steer my attention away from the puddle before I found out what my fingers looked like in the mud. My shoes and socks and feet were all wet and since it was warm mama took my shoes and socks off and dried my feet off. Then I sat barefoot in my stroller and we went for a walk. I was so tired from playing in the mud and running all over the park that I fell asleep. It was a great day.

Love, Elijah

rockin' out

I have this cool toy that sings songs and counts and says the alphabet all in spanish. I like to carry it around with me and listen to it. Here I am sitting in the rocking chair listening to it. I have not yet figured out how to climb in the rocking chair all by myself but one of these days I will get there. It is still fun to go over and make the chair rock all the time. I like that it has a big white cushion on it. I plan to sit there next time I am eating avocado, because I think it would look great in green too.

Love, Elijah

peekaboo

I have finally mastered this whole peekaboo thing. This game is hilarious. I cover my eyes and mama says peekaboo and I uncover my eyes and she tickles me. The other day we played this game while we were shopping and I was sitting in the shopping cart. I laughed and laughed and laughed so hard that you could hear it many aisles away. Then when we left we got caught in the rain so mama put me in my raincoat and ran with me in the cart really fast to the car. We ran so fast that I didn't even know it was raining because I thought the running was so much fun!

Love, Elijah

my new favorite toy

This morning while mama was in the shower I was awfully quiet and she was wondering what I was up to. Whatever I was playing with was making some odd noises. When she opened the shower door she found me playing with my new favorite toy, the toilet plunger. I have been trying to get my hands on it for weeks because I think it is fascinating, but mama would always hide it from me. This morning I would pick it up and slam it down on the tile floor and it made really cool noises. Mama was thrilled that I found the dirtiest, most grossest thing in the bathroom to play with.

Love, Elijah

the park

We have had some great weather lately so I have had lots of trips to the park. I love the park. When mama put me down to walk I headed straight for the geese (who are bigger than I am) and then straight for the mound of dirt. Mama says I am such a little boy sometimes. I kept pointing at the playground but when we went over there I was not interested in going near it. My favorite thing is to walk on the dirt, then the path, then the grass, then the path, and then the grass again, then the path again. I go back and forth and back and forth. I also like to freak mama out and head for the lake.

Whenever mama thinks I am getting big she just has to look at the picture of me next to the tree and she will remember how little I still am.

Love, Elijah