My Little Man

ELLIOTT HE CHOL HYNES

Alright! Here is my little man, Elliott! He is a fun camper because he is always so busy and game to eat any sugar he can get his hands on. When the doctor took him out of my tummy, the day he was born, Mikey looked at him and said, "we had a white boy!" He is our little white-Mike. He is so much like his Dad. He is compassionate and considerate...he sees people's needs and helps without being asked. He is the best hugger in all the land; his favorite is when he squeezes you and you say, "too tight...too tight!" He once ate so much candy while Aunt Ruth was watching him that he threw up; he would do that every day if we would let him. He is so smart, so focused, so curious, and so mechanical. He baffles me with his observations and train of thought. He still speaks like a little boy (speech therapy has helped a bit), and I kinda dread the day he will talk correctly...it still keeps him young in my eyes. My favorite expression of his is his response to being teased or told something extraordinary. He says "really? really Mom?", but of course, it comes out "wewie? Wewie Mom?" Very sweet. He tilts his head and grins a knowing and all-believing grin. He is our dreamer, he believes he can ride with Spider Man to the moon, and I won't tell him he can't. He is my little man.

Here he is at camping. I think I was trying to get a shot of how dirty he was after sliding up and down the hill to the lake.

This is his quintessential grin! This is the look that makes me melt. Young women will swoon at that cheeky smile someday.

Again, my kids not loving the mutlitple shots of them in the car on the way to camping.

You can still see a smile in his eyes...his angry face isn't convincing yet, and I love it.

Ahh, the sugar. I let him have a jelly powder donut while camping....I couldn't resist a chance to see just how dirty he could get! Here are the many faces of Elliott eating a donut.

He is so animated and so full of life. He breathes optimism and joy, even in eating a donut!

Here he is whittling a stick. Uncle Kimo and Uncle Jason were whittling away, and being the curious, industrious boy that he is he had to give it a go. I gave him a butter knife to work with. It kept him busy for a while, but he soon realized it wasn't creating the same results!

That's him though. He sees something, watches for a while to see how it works, then gives it a go. Always doing something.

Here is his nightly fishing in the dirt.

While we all sat around the fire chatting, Elliott took the opportunity to brush up on his casting skills. He fished in the dirt for a good 45 minutes a couple of nights. Very rarely do I hear him say,"I'm bored", he is always coming up with something interesting to do.

Here is something he found to do...monster truck towing. Give a boy a bungee chord, and two toy cars, and he can do amazing things.

Amazing.

We had a lot of fun on this trip hiding each other's "family dolls". I wish we would have taken a picture of each doll, but I forgot! Emily and Jason had a rubber chicken, the Wilsons had a family of skeletons taped together and decorated with camping brush, and we had Ken doll. We would hide them and find them constantly. The kids especially liked this. Here is Elliott modeling our family doll.

It kinda looks like Elliott in 10 years huh? Disregard the dirty, dusty, dried booger clinging to the edge of my son's nose...we are camping, remember?

That's my Elliott. Determined, loving, kind, creative, imaginative, innocent, dramatic and lovely. He is my white Mike--my color on Mike's face. He is all I love about Mike combined with such a happiness and innocence that I can't resist. He is my nap buddy, hugging man, and my joy. I love Elliott Hynes!