Our Little 'Lijah

November 05, 2010

Our Little 'Lijah

I forgot to mention in my last post a little about why we chose Elijah's name.

We had the middle name "Richard" chosen for awhile. It is a family name on both sides - Eli has two grandfathers, a great grandfather, and an uncle named Richard (Nate's dad Richard Hill and Marcie's dad Richard Charles Holloman, Jr. grandfather Richard Charles Holloman, Sr. and brother Richard Charles Holloman III) - that's a lot of Richards! (the name means "strong power"- grrr!)

In trying to decide on a first name we really tried to get a sense for what this little guy's personality and special traits are. Two themes kept coming back to us - a grateful heart, and a strong connection with family across the generations.

I couldn't find any names (at least in the English language) that mean "gratitude" - but I can say that each of the Richards he is named after definitely embody that trait. We are so grateful for the legacy and example each has left for our children.

As for linking family across the generations, no one embodies that more than the prophet Elijah from the Old Testament - "he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers" -Malachi 4:6, D&C 110:13-16

For members of the LDS church this points to the temples, where our families can be sealed together forever (not just until death) and have the promise of living together again after we die.

This is the Washington, D.C. temple where Nate & I were married 5 years ago :)

It provides immense comfort and purpose to our everyday lives to know that we're building a family unit to last forever. The 'Spirit of Elijah' has helped us reach out to our family members and learn more about them - even those who have passed on or those we might be estranged from - to create the strong, lasting family bonds we all deeply desire.

So, there you have it - that's why we chose his name. For those who wonder, the name Elijah itself means "Jehovah is my God". Plus, we really like the nickname Eli. And "Little 'Lijah" is also starting to stick too :)

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Quotable Kiddos

C: "Mayman is donn" (mailman is gone)
E: "Mom, is heaven inside of mommies' tummies?"
C: "watee" (his word for water)
E : "Mom, will you sit on the lovey couch with me?" (referring to the loveseat)
Nate to N: "You're being argumentative." N's reply: "No, I'm not!"
E: "Dad put on his cape and flew to work. He's superdad!"
C's first sentence: "Hi, Bird!"
L: "maybe C will be a Lampaterian! He loves lamps!"
Nate to E: "are you doing jobs?" E to Dad "No, I just want to play at parties."
C: "nah-norn" (his word for popcorn)
L: "Dad, do you know about the Nerf System?" Dad: "I know about nerfs, but not a system." L: "Oh! well we know about the nerf system inside of your body!"
L: "Mom! 'incorrect' is the password!!!" (thinking he figured out the password when it gave him the error message 'the password is incorrect')
E: "people who have glider suit pajamas can fly at night!"
E: "mashed topatoes"
Nate to the kids: "I'm busy right now. Busy lying down."
E: "When I was like baby Christian, I cried with pear in my mouth. That was so funny when I did that!"
L:"I think I'm never going to be a grown-up. Because it takes me too long to have a birthday!"
L:"this is a mother board and that is a fatherboard" (speaking of the computer parts from Nate's old computer)
L:"I ate so many bites my tummy is gonna blast off into space and break my bones!"
L: "This is my work. When I do this, fire comes out. It's a fire-work!"
L: "We can't put anything in our noses. But we can breathe air in our noses!" (reinforcing 'the new rule' after getting a lego stuck up his nose)
N: "We're just not tired. We have no tiredness in us. We just have hundreds of energies in us and we don't know how to get them out!"
N: "I'm putting up the toppy tip of the tree!"
L: "I am NOT a highness!" (after N called him "your highness")
N: I'm getting tired of cleaning tables!"
L: "Mom, I'm done with my ice cream, now can I have some zucchini?"
N: "I'm a brave girl. I can do without dinner."
N: "Wait! I forgot something. I love you."
L: "someday I will have three babies. I have eight muscles."
N: "I think I just saw dreamland! up on the moutain. It was a very small dreamland."
M to N: "can you close the door please? It's kind of loud." N: "I can. I'm going to close it right now. I'm going to get married quietly."
N: "That smells like our freezing cold campout. I can smell really good because I have good 'sense' - 'Lijah has really small sense."
L: "how old are my toes?"
M to N: "i need some peace and quiet right now, please" (while preparing FHE lesson), N: "I want to help! Can I help with peace and quiet?!"
N: "They were the Nephites' anenomes" (when asked who the Lamanites were)
N: "Is today Sunday at Grandma Goldberg's land?"
N: " I just mowed the lawn. Doesn't it look mowful?"
D to N: "Who remembers yesterday?", N: "Everybody in the whole wide world!", D: "Are you sure? there's somebody in the van who doesn't remember yesterday." N: "Dad, of course!"
L: "I know the muffin man, he knows the way!" (singing a mixture of "do you know the muffin man?" and "follow the prophet")
N: "Look at all those sticks!" (pointing at a bunch of sticks on a big piece of farmland) Dad says "It's a stick farm!" A few minutes later N sees an empty piece of farmland and says "Look- it's a dirt farm!"
L: "hey mommy, when our car's a train, we can drive on the train tracks!"
We were talking about campfires and what to sing around them, and L said "some people call it a marshmallow song! we'll sing happy birthday to the campfire." N: "and we'll have to get some water", L: "and we'll just have to get some cake!"
N: Can you tell me when my quiet time is done? It's supposed to be an hour." L: "can you tell me when my quiet time is not done?" Dad: "Are you the little contrarian, Lucas?" L: "No, I'm not!"
L: "someday I'll be a daddy! And I can reach up high to get my green stapler!"
N: "overneath"
N: "Mom, noone knows anything. Except Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father know everything."
L to N after flushing the toilet for her "it was really nice of me, Natowee!"
N after getting a recipt from the lollipop she got (we were 'learning the value of money') "...and I got a RECEIPT!" M: "so which do you like better - the lollipop, or the receipt?" N: "the receipt!!"
N: "is that the bay? (yes) so...all the toilet paper is there, right?"
L: was asked during FHE lesson on service "who can we serve to today?", L responds "Mommy!", Mommy asks "how can you serve me?" L responds "I can serve you ice cream, and I can serve you cake!"
L: "watch out for kid-year-olds!" (while jumping on the couch)
N: "you're boiling cold!" (to Dad while playing hide & seek)
N: "that's not agua - it's water!!"
N: "I'm trying to make the best fort in the holy world!"
L: "I'm not a human, I'm a humidifier!"
N: "I can't do it 'cause my leg is all hurted up!" (an excuse for not wanting to do her sweeping job)
L: "I've got my lawn mower, I'm going to lawn the grass!"
N: "I have half a tummy ache...after dessert I'll have a full tummy ache"
N: "Do you know you're a prophet baby? Prophets do not cry!" (to E)
N: "Lucas, if you cry, I'll still be here"
N: "Even babies are humans. Human, I like you!" (to E)
L: "I'm going to drive to work - I'm going to get some pizza!"