Shhh....it's a surprise!

I bought Elijah two new toys for the long plane rides--a portable train set (Percy's Mail Delivery) and a magnetic drawing board. I hope he likes them and that they keep him entertained! We also downloaded some of his favorite music videos--Five Little Monkeys, Eensy Weensy Spider, Evian Babies, and Price Ali! ;) We're all set!!

He totally understands that we're going to be getting on a plane and going somewhere. I said, "Elijah, we're going on an airplane tomorrow." He responded, "Yee-mo!" (which means aunt in Korean)

You crack us up, Elijah!

Today, Elijah went around in the restaurant signing to people at various table to "please give me" and yelling, "bhap" (food)! He was so hungry and it took forever for the food to come out. He was begging for food! I guess he decided that he was going to take matters into his own hand since food seemed to be available all around us except our table! We had a good laugh.

Also, he has been calling some adult men, "bhai", which means, "younger brother." He hears Paul and I calling our driver, Saliendra, "bhai" all the time. Or if we're at a restaurant, we're always calling for waiters with the word, "bhai." Hence, Eli has started to call older men, "bhai." We have been trying to correct it by teaching him to say, "daju or dada" (big brother). But even the men who hear him say, "bhai," think it is so funny and they answer back by saying, "hajur," (yes) in a very polite way. They all think it is so cute to hear him calling out, "bhai! bhai!"

Our Detour Trip to Darjeeling

On our way back home from Sikkim, we learned that there was a landslide and the road to Siliguri was blocked. So we had to take a detour through Darjeeling, which meant additional four hours to our trip (which was already 2.5 hours). We decided that it'd be better to just stop in Darjeeling, spend the night there, and drive back down the next day.

We took shifts watching Elijah the next day so that we can have some quiet time to pray. Elijah and I decided to take a walk around what is called the Ring Mall. There were some monkeys running about and I thought, "How fun! Eli will get to see monkeys up close!" However, they were a little too close for comfort! One monkey was really aggressive and came up to me as though he was ready to attack. I screamed and of course, it scared the monkey and he got even more aggressive. A couple was walking and some other monkeys got aggressive with the woman and she came behind me screaming! Of course my initial reaction was, "Lady, why are you hiding behind me, a woman with a toddler in her arms!" She was pulling on my shirt from behind and it felt as though she was willing to possibly let Elijah get hurt so that she wouldn't. Anyway, it kind of annoyed me. Thankfully, her husband had an umbrella and shooed the monkeys away. A few seconds later I heard another scream....those aggressive monkeys had scared another woman!

When we got back, Elijah was processing that whole event. I could tell because he would sign monkeys, blah, blah, blah, um-ma (mommy) "ahhh!" So, I explained to him what was going on for me and it seemed as though he understood. I just found it so fascinating that a seventeen month old was in the process of processing his experience with me.

We also had fun riding horses. Initially, he seemed very apprehensive, but once we got on it and rode together, he was fine. He got to do it again with daddy and now, he asks to see pictures of horses!


We also got to see how crazy the hills people are about football (soccer). We learned that the hills people are much more into football than cricket. Elijah so far seems to prefer cricket. When he sees it on TV, he gets all excited. He has been following the Lakers and Celtics game and some games of the World Cup with his daddy!


I've decided that I can't keep up with his vocabulary development...so, I'm going to stop jotting them down. Nevertheless, one thing is very clear....you're going to be a talker! I can see it.....