Birthday Boy

“What’s your name?” Elias asked the older boy in the sandbox.

“Noah. And yours?” The boy replied.

“Elias.”

I listened and smiled. This was the first time our boy introduced himself with his actual name — Elias (pronounced the German way). Before then, he was quite convinced that his real name was Li-Li and would not introduce himself any other way.

3 years ago, our cute and chubby Elias was born into this world. And now our energetic, passionate, and always hungry baby is turning 3 and finally knows that he has a real name that does not consist of just one repeated syllable. Happy birthday, big boy!

Elias is still cute but definitely not chubby anymore. He is still as energetic, as passionate, and as hungry as he was as a baby. He can go from laughing his head off to stomping his feet in anger within 2 seconds. He can go from running around like a triathlon athlete to watching a caterpillar intently within minutes. He can go from hugging the air out of me to whining about wanting food several times an hour.

To celebrate his young and full life, here is his first birthday interview, recorded in his language mix of choice: mainly German, with some English words and grammar sprinkled on top.

20 Questions for Elias:

1. How old are you? “Drei!” (Holds up three fingers)  
2. How old is Mommy? “Hmmm…fuenfzehntausend.” (“Fifteen thousand.” Thanks, buddy.)
3. How old is Daddy? “Fuenfzehntausend.” (At least Daddy is just as old as I am.) 
4. What is something Mommy says to you? “Still” (“Quiet.” Ha!The fact that Elias started laughing hysterically after he said it tells me he wasn’t all that serious about it. I hope.)
5. What makes you happy? “Wenn Daddy teilen mit mich.” (“When Daddy shares with me.”)
6. What makes you sad? “Wenn Daddy nicht teilen mit mich.” (“When Daddy doesn’t share with me.”)
7. What makes you laugh? “Wenn jemand so “pffffffff” oder burpsies, hahahaha!” (“When someone makes elephant noises or burps”…oh, boy humor)
8. What is your favorite thing to do? “Wasser trinken.” (“Drink water.” Interesting answer.)
9. What’s your favorite thing to do outside? “Huepfen auf dem Trampolin.” (“Jump on the trampoline”)
10. Who’s your best friend? “Raebird und Bubby.” (Cousin love!)
11. What are you really good at? “Huepfen! Flip!” (“Jumping! Doing flips”)
12. What’s your favorite Bible story? “Noah’s ark.”
13. What is God like? “…wie Daddy” (“Like Daddy.” Awww. There’s some theological application there)
14. Which superhero do you want to be? “Makwa.” (The superhero he invented months ago)
15. What’s your favorite food? “Oooooobst!” (Fruit. He could eat it all day long.)
16. What’s your favorite book? “Piratenbuch” (Pirate book)
17. What’s your favorite song? “Lalalalalalaaaa” (starts singing)
18. What’s your favorite color? “Blau.” (Blue)
19. What’s your favorite animal? “Baby Wolf, Baby Hundi, Baby Hasi.” (“Baby wolf, baby doggy, baby bunny.” I see a theme here.)
20. What’s your favorite toy? “Mein Superman.” (His superman action figure)

 

 

 

We love you, Elias Michael!