Moments with Elliot

One of the most amazing things for me as a parent has been discovering how very different my four children are. Each pregnancy felt very similar to me; all four boys looked strikingly alike at birth. Yet, over the years, I have come to know each child's personality, and they are unbelievably different. To watch the unfolding and development of a unique human being is nothing short of an incredible journey. With all four of them at home together, it's not often that I get to spend much time alone with any one of them (save maybe a few quiet moments nursing Theo.) But, those special one-on-one moments, when they do happen, offer priceless glimpses into those individual personalities. All four boys like to talk, (those of you who know me well, will undoubtedly find that easy to believe, ) but Elliot is my biggest talker by far. While Jack and Mattie talk mainly because they feel compelled to share something with us, Elliot just talks to talk. If he thinks it, he says it. Period. He can frequently be heard walking around the house talking to himself. He replays events that happened earlier in the day, explains things to himself, and just carries on simple conversations. On Saturday we went blueberry picking. The boys typically tire of picking way before we have amassed as many as Ted and I would like. So, after an hour of so of picking in the very hot sun, I took Mattie, Theo and Jack over to the farm stand to sit in the shade and play for a while. Ted and Elliot kept picking. This farm has some pretty stiff regulations that require everyone to pick a bush clean before moving on to another bush. As a consequence of this, they tend to have small crowds of people picking in tiny roped off areas which they are constantly moving down the field. Ted and Elliot were diligently working on their bush. All the while Elliot chattered away, with Ted throwing in an "oh" or "yes" now and then. There were times when he he had trouble staying focused on Elliot's ramblings, but there were also a few instances when he could barely stifle his laughter. His favorite? When they moved from one side of the bush to another, and Elliot exclaimed, "whoa - we hit the mothering load!" Elliot also had an entire conversation himself as to whether he could take back something he'd already said. And no, he hasn't been watching Seinfeld re-runs. The woman who was working on the next bush was apparently taking this all in as well. Ted said he could hear her chuckling from time to time, and watched as she would look at Elliot and smile, particularly after his more precocious comments. When Elliot did finally stop to draw a breath, the woman started a conversation with him.
"What are you going to make with your blueberries?" she asked.
"Blueberry pie, " he answered.
"Me too," she continued. "Do you like blueberries in your cereal?"
"No," he replied, with a look of complete incomprehension. "I'm a kid."