In Case of an Emergency

Even though Eli is already 19 months old, he is still in caveman mode most of the time. He grunts and groans a lot. Don't get me wrong, he can say a lot of single syllables that we understand, but he is also very lazy. There was one day where he suddenly said 6 new words. We got so excited about it. But then the very next day he went back to grunting and groaning when he referred to those 6 things that he had CLEARLY said the day before. Oh well. We do everything we can to get him to say stuff (especially the stuff he really does know how to say), but he just refuses.

The other thing is that when he says certain things, he whispers it like it's a secret. It's really strange. He's known how to say "pick me up" in Chinese for a very long time now. But we can't get him to say it louder than a whisper. Isn't that strange?

The reason I'm giving you all this background information is because Eli rarely ever says "mama." Can you believe this guy?? He knows how to say it, but he's only ever said it after we ask him to say it....and when he says it, he always whispers it. But when B walks through the door after work, Eli excitedly says, "Dada!" as he runs to the door to give him a hug. Talk about unfair! I told B it's probably because I'm home all the time. He sees my face every day, so he has no need to really call my name. But it's gotten to the point where he really never says "mama" and I joke with everyone that Eli just thinks I'm some lady that works in our house every day. Oh well.

So the other day we were shopping at a children's clothing store. The store is great because they have a TV playing kids' shows and little chairs in front of the TV for the kids to sit on. I left Elina and Eli by the TV and wandered around to look at clothes. I was on the other side of the store (it's a small store) and I could hear a boy repeating, "Mama...mama...mama." I didn't even turn around because it couldn't be MY kid...you know, the caveman who doesn't know his own mama. Then I hear the saleslady say, "Oh, someone wants his Mama." I just chuckled as I continued looking at the clothes as this poor boy was still calling for his Mama. Then I heard Elina's voice say, "Mommy, Eli's looking for you!" I dropped the clothes I was looking at and ran over to find Eli. He looked right at me and said, "Mama." I almost cried! I couldn't believe it.

HE KNOWS I'M HIS MAMA!

The saleslady must've thought I was a bad parent since I was totally ignoring my child. I'm just so happy now because even though Eli doesn't say my name often, I know that in case of an emergency, he will say my name. How wonderful!