Eli. What a cutie. I hope this guy knows how very much I love and adore him. He is becoming a boy of very few words, so I just keep telling him how crazy I am about him. He responds: "ok."
I don't think his birthday was much different than it would have been non-pandemic. He opened gifts, some shoes he pointed out to me from his Thrasher magazine, he and Jon went to Board of Provo that day to pick out a new skateboard. (Man, he goes through those fast! The one from Christmas is already cracked and broken.)
Who loves their big bro?
This gal.
We all love Eli, really!
Spiffy new shoes, new pants. Cute face and hair.
The other day I was watching Eli out the back window while he was
hanging out with his friends in the two backyards behind us. I watched
his long, strong body bounce up and down on Landon's trampoline while he
caught enough air to jump over the fence onto the grass next door. Then
he trotted over to that trampoline and did a summer-salt jump onto it
while his friends jumped. I marveled at his strength and agility. He's
in the shape of his life at 15, Enjoy!
Only a few friends were able to hang out at this point, but I think it was a fun day for Eli anyway.
As
quiet as Eli is, he is a strong force in the family. He gets people
chuckling with his funny voices and one-liners. He is still very much little boy, he and Zeke will always get silly during family discussions, still separating them, still breaking up teasing. Workin' on it. Sometimes I have to
really press him when I can tell he doesn't think something is fair, or
he's upset because he wont just tell me. I always fear it's because he
doesn't feel heard or picked on or something. I just want him to know that I love him
to pieces and I feel so lucky that he came to us and I've been able to
raise the chubby cheeked, sparkly blue-eyed little guy to this tall,
strong, smart sweetheart big guy. Just tell me what you think, Eli! I
will always want to hear all about it!
I suppose the next step is to move towards his learners permit and keep teaching and training to go out into the big world someday. But for now, I'll keep my Ei close.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELI! I LOVE YOU!