The Voice

Two days ago when reading his SpongeBob book to me, Elias came up with a new voice for one of the characters, Moe Blowfish.  It is a distinctive, silly voice uttered deep in the back of his throat and said with his chin in his chest and a big smile with barred teeth and deep dimples in his cheeks.  It startled me, and was very funny...and of course my laughter ensured it become a regular feature in his speech.  He uses it all the time now to say something funny.  Most commonly in the evening, he'll tuck in that chin, give me that teasing look and say in his Moe voice "I watch TV?" (knowing we only watch in the morning), then "We go outside?" (even though it's getting dark)  and laugh at the ridiculousness of it. He'll also adopt the voice with his long-running joke "Is that Mommy?" (pointing to, for example, a picture of a hippopotomus) or "Is that Elias?" (pointing to me.)

Literary genius update

It's such a delight seeing Elias' language developing so rapidly and sometimes in unexpected ways.  He now talks a lot...but, really, mostly to himself.  Well, not really to himself, since he is seeking an audience, but it's largely one-sided.  He's not much for conversation, and often clams up if asked a question.  Rather, he either narrates what he's doing at the time and/or recites passages from his books, which he seems to delight in almost as much as me reading the story to him.  He wants me to confirm--and preferably continue--the select passages, though, so it's often a challenge for me to figure out what he's reciting and remember the story.  His memory is far, far superior to mine.  I'm astounded how he can find a book that he hasn't seen for months then rattle off each page of text from memory.

This week I'm happy to report that he read at least 3 new words:  CAT, POP and...and...well, shoot, there's my memory showing again.  Regardless, it was very exciting.  I catch him trying to sound out words to himself. 

Dear friends more literary than I got him a couple books of poetry, which I wasn't excited about, but soon discovered that he loves them.  He has a preference for "good" poetry, too, not just children's rhymes.

His favorite book now is his children's Bible.  Really!  I didn't push that at all--in fact, I find that version too preachy, confusing and awkward and would like to replace it, but he loves it to the point of obsession.  He gets distressed when he looses it, and most nights insists on taking it to bed with him.  That's really wonderful, although his focus isn't where I'd have it be. When he first read about the Fall, he laughed all-out that "Eve knew God didn't want them to eat from the tree," insisted I read that part over and over, then repeated the phrase himself constantly for a day or two.  Hmm.  A similar thing happened when we read about the Exodus, where he focused on Pharaoh saying "no" to God, which for some reason he finds funny and fascinating.  Other favorites are more to my liking: the entire creation story, and Abraham counting the stars and getting the son God promised.  Just tonight I think he got the concept that you don't have to read the stories from front to back like his other books, and was flipping through to have me read the "end ones."  That came with another instant "hit" he wanted repeated 20ish times:  " 'Come and fight me!' said Goliath."  I think why he found this so funny was that at first he thought I said "come and bite me" but even with that cleared up, Goliath's battle cry is now firmly installed in my son's working vocabulary.  I'm wondering how that phrase will play out in daycare tomorrow.

Although he likes quoting others, I just love some of his own phrases.  All berries have 2 "b"s in the middle:  Strawbaberry, raspbaberry.  Thomas (the train) is still always "Thomasum" and he carries "cold" not "coal" (I think he intentionally switches those because I've corrected him on it so many times before, and now he even emphasizes the "d" on the end and fake-shivers when saying it.)  He often refers to himself in the 3rd person, as in "please tickle Elias Cook!"  When he hurts himself he'll say in a sad, drawn-out voice "Pooooor Elias..."

His pronunciation is OK (his teacher says "I love his diction!") but often I need him to repeat things to me, and even then I'm sometimes left with a mystery.  I admire my friend Sarah for her detective efforts in deciphering her daughter's speech, but sometimes I rise to the occasion too.  It's a delight figuring it out.  One example is when we were on the couch reading a book and he said "Mommy, turn on outside."  Interpretation:  open the window to let the breeze in.  Sunday we met his adoption social worker and he climbed on her lap and started telling her all sorts of things, with me translating, but I got stuck on "shoes, kaffay."  You have comfy shoes?--no.  Shoes come off?--no.  OH!  Your shoes are "cafe":  brown!  His daycare has a Spanish tutor come in once a week.  Now I have to try to figure out what he's saying in 2 languages!

energy galore

Sunday marked our 2 year home-to-America anniversary.  We went to Capital Brewery for a fundraiser for Clinic At A Time, a local charity that brings health care to Ethiopia.  I had some injera and wat, but Elias opted for a hotdog and pretzels.  I won a silent auction for 5 ceramic chickens (actually they look more like guinea hens), a little bigger than the pair I got when I was there.  There were plenty of familiar faces, but I was distracted and tired out by trying to keep tabs on Elias, who was having a grand time.  It had rained heavily before we got there, and in short order Elias had found and stomped in the biggest, muddiest puddle, then slipped and fell into it.  Upon recovering from his surprise, he decided to get his hands involved too until I made my way to him.  He must have gotten me to accompany him to the bathroom 5 times (no easy task with wet, muddy cords).  The next fun thing was finding an older boy who wanted to chase him, and they ended up running around and through everything, sometimes picking up other kids, for about 45 minutes straight (Elias escaping several times, very briefly, into the women's restroom where the older boy wouldn't follow.)  People commented on how energetic he was, in a friendly, somewhat sympathetic manner.

The entire weekend Elias was so energetic that it seemed he was on some sort of hyperactivity drug.  Even his "standing still" is him jogging in place.  Even when inside he constantly dances, climbs, and runs, often giving a running commentary "I climbing."  "I run fast!"  When I read him a story, after several minutes he'll start twisting and squirming, falling off the couch and climbing over it, even though he's very engaged in the story.  It's like he just can't keep all that energy bottled up.  It's a little disconcerting, even--I can see why some parents might give kids ridilin or other drugs to bring them down to "normal." (I think that's horrible, BTW).  Alas, rather than being contagious, his hyperactivity just seems to sap my own limited energy supply.

Busy Madison weekend

Here's some pictures from Memorial Day weekend:  so "Madison-y"!  We kicked it off with a BBQ at some friends' house where he was a bit too wild for me to relax much.  On Saturday we went to Farmers' Market on the Square, the Capitol building, and Bratfest.  I don't remember Sunday, truthfully.  On Monday we went to Wingra park where we looked at the canoes, watched people catch lots of fish from the dock, played on the playground, and had lunch at Michael's Frozen Custard.  That night we went over other friends' house where he had two other kids to run off energy with.  Whew!

pictures

Since Elias has been home sick with strep throat, I found some time to download and post some new pictures from May.  (Oddly enough, I still haven't found time to do some major needed house cleaning...)

At the zoo.  We were supposed to meet other adoptive families from my church, but we couldn't find anyone.  Oh, well; a nice day at the zoo anyway.  Elias is decidedly unimpressed by "exotic" animals, having seen and read about them just as much or more than "normal" animals.  He liked the tiger, but by the time we got to the polar bear he decided to pull out his Thomas book to keep himself entertained.

Visiting the next-door neighbors' horses.  This was one of the very rare times I've gotten him to smile for the camera, although it doesn't look like it was easily done.

At M's birthay party.  Here he's eagerly waiting for a bucket of water to fill and spill on his head.  He loves the water and takes weekly swim lessons through his daycare.

My little evangelist

Last week as I dropped Elias off at daycare Ms. M. told me a funny tale.  The class was singing "When you're happy and you know it"...clap your hands (then they all clap.)  When they got to the verse "shout hooray" Elias stood up, threw his hands in the air, and enthusiastically shouted "hallelujah!"  The teachers started cracking up laughing, so now he's got the whole class shouting "hallelujah!" for that part of the song.  No, it's not a Christian daycare, but they've got a subversive in their midst!  I myself didn't "teach" that, per se; I think he got it from an Fernando Ortega CD.  Similarly, last year when we were back home visiting he pulled a line from one of my Rich Mullins CDs, when he came up to my father, thrust his finger at his face and told him authoritatively "Jesus is calling YOU, Pappa!"  So, I'm glad I generally listen to CDs and not pop radio or news in the car with him; it's amazing what he soaks up.

I tell you, there's nothing that warms my heart more than hearing my little son singing "My God is an Awesome God."  How can it get better than that?  Today he wasn't feeling well, and asked for me to cuddle on the couch with him and read his children's Bible to him. "Mommy, cuddle?  Mommy read Bible?  MY Bible, Mommy, MINE!"  Awww...

Just pictures