what of Elliot?

Elliot has grown up way to fast in the last two weeks for my liking. There are quite a few more arguments in our house now than ever before. Supper, bedtime, naptime, diaper changes are all arguments.
On the other hand, he is astounding his parents with his maturity and intelligence. He has been putting little ten piece puzzles together by himself, using the computer to find hockey and Thomas and the last two nights he has gone to bed without a fight. He still argues but there has been no kicking or screaming.

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that we set up a real bed for him a few weeks ago. He seems to enjoy it a lot, though he has said a couple of times that it is too big for him.
Andrea and I have talked recently about the possibility that we are making him grow up too fast. He is only two after all. So I have been purpously slowing down and letting him play and pretend as much as possible. This has led to a great deal of fun. He has such an incredible imagination.

Tonight before bed we were deciding on a story to read and he turned down the Hockey Sweater for a book about Uncle Clayton in China (Elliot really wants to visit Clayton over there). This book happens to be an atlas that I got from my Grandma for Christmas a long time ago. He flips through the pages and can find China on a map of the world. At first I made up a couple of stories about Uncle Clayton but before long it was Elliot who was telling me stories about Uncle Clayton. There were many characters in the stories and settings and scenes and I think there was even a fairly decent plot to most of the stories. It was a wonderful time. I could hear stories from Elliot all day.

At the end of the story I was explaining to Elliot that when people come to mind we can say a quick prayer for that person. I gave some examples, like saying "Hi God, I just wanted to ask you to take care of my friend Annika today and help her have a great time with her mom and sister and dad today". So then Elliot took it from there. Here were his prayers:

"Hi God, I hope Uncle Clayton is having lots of fun in China."
"I hope mommy is doing good with baby Simon."
"Hi God, I hope Annika is happy with Chloe and mommy Carmen."

Then I kissed him goodnight and left his room and he went to sleep without a peep.