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Singing Puff the Magic Dragon to Elliot at ages 3 and 4. I substitute his name in the song and make up a story each time while singing. Also “Row, Row , Row Your Boat.”

Some photos from this time, late July and early August 2022.

Elliot and I were playing zombies. I was shooting me, but I told him I have a shield up. The only way to break the shield is to shoot a “photon torpedo” (Star Trek reference).

He thought I said “photon burrito”. I was shot many times by such burritos and the shield ultimately failed.

The other day, max showed me a new toy with a small video screen while in Karolina’s car. He described it as a pet he had to keep feeding or it dies.

“Oh, a tamagotchi!” Max and Elliot did not know that word. I think max’s toy is a knock-off.

So now Elliot has been asking me everyday for a “Hama gotchi gotchi”. He has had many names for it, variations of tamagotchi. It’s very cute.

We went to see the Buzz Lightyear movie. Elliot only goes to the theater so he can play a driving video game. We played the game, watched 45 minutes of the film, then he said he was read to go. He loses attention when he does not understand what’s going on. So we left and he played the driving game a couple more times.

Jody came over. Elliot showed him his pumpkin plants and mentioned the corn needs “two more days“ (they are still seeds).

Then we went to the Southridge Pool (first time) and Cora from Elliot’s class (the Purple Room) was there with her mother! A big surprise.

Came home for dinner, then went biking. Elliot tried his tricycle one last time. He’s way too big for it now. He wants to donate it for another boy to use. I guess we’ll do the same with the orange balance bike since he has the “real” spider man bike now.

Elliot and I met our cousins Gwen and Lucas Appel in Colorado Springs for Dinner. He liked them very much. He said he wants to learn to ice skate.

Out of the blue, Elliot said “you’re so nice to me, Daddy.” This was after one of our “adventures” on the bike path to the cottonwood trees, where we found an enormous belt on the sidewalk.

Elliot just does not play with you anymore. It was popular the last 2 springs and summers, when Elliot was 2 and 3. But now he’s 4. I put it out end of May for him to play with, and he did very briefly, but he complained that the water was too cold. UPDATE: After typing that, I brought the water table back into the garage. I will try one more time to see if Elliot wants to play with it. Sad. No. I threw it out after all.

Watching the new Stranger Things 4 without Max. I was hoping to see him yesterday, but he did not come down to my car to say hello. Kate Bush “Running Up That Hill”. Dio Jean jacket. I love it.

Elliot had a 2nd lightstick dance party on Friday. Apparently he loved the first one — he told me all about it. Here he is dancing.

I picked up Elliot from school today. He kept asking if we could “borrow” (his word for “buy”) a fly swatter. I have no idea why. I asked him if he remembered the crazy fly swatter in the Fly Guy book (the fly swatter 3000). I had to lookup who sells them. Home Depot. So we went there and bought a pair. He was in heaven… for a day. I still have no idea why he wanted it so much.

Me: “Elliot, let’s go on an adventure!”

Elliot gets on his new spider-man bike, and we go down the bike path to the cluster of cottonwood trees. We look closely at flowers and bugs along the way. He asks me if there is water by the cottonwood trees yet, and I say no because it has not rained enough. I think he still wants me to take him there, even though last time he was scared of it. He was scared because it’s a gully filled with trees. There is no one there. Maybe he thinks “bicoties” (coyotes) live there.

I like when he needs help and squeals, “mm mm mm”

Some time ago, I told Elliot that plants (our “friends”) need sun, water, soil, and air to grow. He repeats that to me sometimes. Well, Elliot was watering our pumpkin plants the other day (with me) when he said, “Now they need air?” He looked at the water nozzle to see how to turn the dial to give them air.

Elliot “won” level 5 in swimming this morning! He was so excited and overjoyed. He has been working towards this for months! Finally, his new teacher, Miss Emma, leveled him up today. She is also a part-time teacher at Elliot’s Purple Room at the Garden Preschool, so they already know each other.

I told him how proud I was, and that he should be proud of himself. “You can do anything if you practice enough. Never give up!”

He got a ribbon but also chose a toy from the swim school’s schnaka box: he chose a blue bouncy ball and played with it in the small pool afterwards. We played with it together, trying to encircle it with a pool ring.

This morning, while dropping off Elliot at preschool, he asked, “Daddy, who’s picking me up today?” I said, “Me”, to which Elliot replied, “CAN WE GO TO THE MONSTER TRUCKS?!”

I forgot to write about this, but on May 1, 2022, we went to our first MonsterJam Monster Truck Show. It was in Colorado Springs at the Broadmoor. When we pulled into the Broadmoor, Elliot said, “This is the dinosaur place!” (We had previously been there to see the Jurassic World exhibit — while sitting in our car, driving through the parking lot during COVID-19).

Anyway, I told Elliot that the Monster Truck show wasn’t happening today. Then he asked why the show was so loud. I said, “Oh yeah, we had to wear headphones. Remember?” He asked why it was so loud. I said because the trucks have such large engines and are very powerful. “The tires?” he asked. “No, the tires don’t make noise. It’s the engine.”

I don’t think he liked the show very much because it was very long, slow, and the performances were quick. I think we sat in our chairs for almost an hour before any action started. Then by the intermission, when they had motorcycle stunts, Elliot was ready to leave. He liked the Scooby Doo Monster Truck a lot, but GraveDigger might have been his favorite because it did the best stunts.

Here are some photos from May 1, 2022.

Although Elliot had an orange balance bike before this, he rarely used it. Here is his first true bicycle, a Huffy SpiderMan bike. He likes it and has ridden it twice to the pool, with my help. He’s still learning how to pedal, especially when his feet are at the top and bottom of the cycle.

Last week, I asked Elliot if he remembers when he lived together in the house with me, Mama, and Maxi. He said yes. It’s been almost 14 months. I’m consistently amazed how much he remembers from a year ago and older (he is 4 now). For instance, when we went to the Renaissance Fair last week, he asked to see the mermaid (she wasn’t there). He wanted to go on the dragon slide and throw darts at balloons, all things he did a year ago at age 3.