Little Communicator

I love communicating with Elijah and trying to figure out what it is that he is trying to say both in words and with sign language. Today, he signed a complete thought, which was "Give me my hat." He signed "hat" then what we use as "give." We're still working on the word, "please," although he did "please" in his own way by bowing as he put his two hands out with palms facing up for "give." That is usually how Koreans receive things from people, so when he wants me to give him something he does that.

He also tries to put his two index fingers together to make a cross to sign that we prayed. I don't know what the sign is for "Jesus" so Paul made it up by making a cross sign. Whenever we pray, he bows hunches forward like he is bowing and makes a cross.

He also likes making his own choices on books and things he wants to do or see. We give him options on what books he wants us to read and he chooses.

Recently, Paul made a slide show of various things that Elijah is interested in, so he now goes straight to Paul's computer, tries to open the laptop, and signs "elephant," "chicken," or "airplanes", etc.

The other day, he saw chicken meat and signed chicken. Paul took him to the poultry shop and told him that a chicken was going to be killed so that we could eat it. He didn't let him watch the killing of a chicken but he decided that he was going to explain it to him. No wonder he saw the chicken meat sitting on the counter and signed to me, "chicken."

One of his favorite signs is "more." Now he is using it for almost everything if he wants some kind of response from us. I have realized that sometimes it means "faster." Other times it has meant "help." Today, I taught him how to correctly sign "help" and he practiced using it. Sometimes he uses the sign for "more" for a "drink." I'm not sure why but he has never used the sign for "water" or "drink." He usually reaches out for the sippy cup or sucks his thumb. Weird.

I love being able to communicate with him. I think I am going to love it even more when he starts to talk, although he might be a non-stop talker! Oh, I can hear the word, "Why?" ringing in my ears already! ;)

Silly Photos

Cutie Pies

While Paul was leading his session at the Youth Conference, I was on Elijah duty! There was a family with a toddler a month older than Elijah so we spent some time playing with the mother and her son. Elijah loved being there. I'm not sure why, but he never sat on the ground but would only squat. I don't know if that is because he sees me squatting all the time... He found the sensation of fine dry dirt really interesting and eventually stuck his fingers in his mouth to taste it. I am finding that Elijah really likes being in remote villages because he is so intrigued by all the animals he sees. Also, he gets to chase them around as though they are his own pets! Of course, he was having so much fun that daddy told me at the end of the day that he refused to take a nap. No wonder he conked out as soon as we got in the car. We were especially grateful that God answered our prayers for cooler weather because it could have been really hot.
The Little Explorers Off to an Adventure! (With close supervision....) ;)

Aren't they adorable? I think they are!
One of the things Elijah loves to do is to sit on steps, stools, chairs, and thresholds.
The Adivasi toddler gave Elijah a big bear hug. Elijah wants to get away and have his independence back! ;)

Free "Toys" at the Mall

On Friday, while daddy was getting some work done, Elijah and I hung out at the mall to beat the heat. Since he loves climbing into chairs, I took him to a furniture store and we just hung out there. Of course, I loved it too since you can sit in really comfortable chairs there and no one seemed to mind! Later we went to a department store so that he can ride on the kiddie toys. I took these photos using my phone...not too bad at all! It's so nice that it doesn't take much to entertain a toddler! ;)

15 Months Old

Happy Easter!

An Easter Egg Hunt right in our own yard! As you can see, mom and dad were having a good time too. (Actually, we could not find the last hidden egg. After seeing some remains of egg shells, we realized that a crow or one of the dogs had found the egg before us and had eaten it!) :)

Amazing!

Yesterday, we spent a little over 6 hours on the road to attend a meeting. While we were on the road, we saw a rhino in the woods. It was huge! We tried to take a picture, but we were too slow and only managed to take a photo of its behind.

When we got there, Elijah immediately got excited when he saw goats and chickens. He had a fantastic time chasing after the goats and chickens.

It was nap time but there was nowhere to lay his head, so I held him and he fell asleep. Usually when he is drifting off to sleep, he wants to be put down and not held. Unfortunately, mom didn't have a blanket or a sheet to use to lay him down, so I took out his diaper change pad, put a diaper and his hat for a pillow, and had him lie there while I used his book as a fan. (The electricity went out.) This amazing little guy slept for an hour and a half, on the hard cement floor, with nothing between him and it except for a thin diaper changing pad. Are you going to be one of those kids who can sleep anywhere, Elijah? So far, you have shown that you can.