Eli: Our 5-year Old Goodness of Delight

Eli is growing up. It is interesting to see his new self-consciousness as well as his growing self-confidence. A bit of a paradox…

Even though he was all excited about playing at McDonald’s, as soon as he saw there were other kids in the play area, he refused to go play.

We found a large, outdoor playground. Eli didn’t want to go, saying it was too boring. Soon he was being chased by two other boys and loving it. Then he didn’t want to leave.

In the pool one afternoon a mother was playing with her daughters. She was pretending to be a shark and said, “Sharks eat whales.” Eli, the animal expert, corrected the stranger: “No, whales eat sharks. I don’t believe you.”

It was important to Eli to get dressed before going to the lobby for breakfast- wouldn’t want to show up in your pjs. One morning I got them dressed, then started out for the hotel lobby. Eli stopped. Looking me up and down, he said carefully, “You’re gonna wear that?” I looked down. I was wearing red athletic shorts and a normal, not-ratty t-shirt. “Yes…Why?” “Oh, it’s just a little embarrassing.”

At his end-of-the-year party at school, Eli politely warned Evan, “Don’t touch me.” He was slightly embarrassed of his little brother. But he soon had his arm around Evan. They often sit together on the couch, completely oblivious to their tangled, snuggled arms and legs.

Eli has a bit of a fear of heights, which showed up as we walked across a bridge this weekend. Fortunately, it’s not too uncool or traumatic, since his daddy shares a dislike of heights. Eli was laughing about it as we walked across the bridge, but he sure did hang on to my hand.

He can talk to us with such an attitude, then turn around and be completely affectionate.

Yesterday, we bought him a churro, a deep-fried pastry covered in cinnamon sugar. He let us know that it tasted like “sugary delightness.” He really liked it. As he finished it off, he proclaimed that the churro was “the goodness of delight!”