Elliot loves Math and Other Stuff

Oh my Elliot. At 5 years old, you are becoming more and more your own unique person. 

My current favorite picture of you

One of the many awesome things about you is that you have a genuine love of numbers. You realized a while ago that Dad will always let you stay up a little longer if you ask him math related questions right before bedtime. One time you came out of your room (well, our closet that you slept in since your cousins were in your room) and when we gave you the stink eye you said "Hey guys, want to hear all the math that I know?" You then proceeded to rattle off every addition fact that you could think of. 

You did this all by yourself a couple months ago when you were jealous of your cousin's math homework

You will sometimes go quiet for long periods of time and then say "Mom! I just counted to 137!" I found a great math game called prodigy (thanks to your Aunt Megan!) that you loved. Your math skills grew by leaps and bounds playing that awesome game. Now you notice numbers everywhere- on cereal boxes, battery percentages on devices, number of views on YouTube videos... you are just attuned to them now. I dug out my calculator from college and put batteries in it because I was tired of you trying to steal my phone to play with the calculator app. 

We have also been playing tons of board games lately and have been so impressed by how quickly you pick up games and can do them yourself. You can now play Settlers of Catan, Bonanza, Splendor, Monopoly, and a whole bunch of others. One time you were counting up your points at the end of a game of Smallworld. It is tricky because the point tokens come in 1, 3, 5, and 10. You came up with 78 points. Your daddy went to check your math and got a different number so he did it again and got a different number. He ended up checking three times and sure enough you got it right on your first try. You are also fully capable of counting our your monopoly money to buy properties and pay rent, which sometimes involved adding up money over $300k. 

Your other great love at this age is crafts. Preschool was your major source of art projects, but sadly preschool was closed because of coronavirus. 

Preschool art show

You had a LONG phase where you drew mazes. Elliot mazes are pretty much video games on paper. He draws monsters, spikes, and various cannons that have to be destroyed by scribbling on them and making sound effects. 

We discovered a YouTube channel called "Art Hub for Kids" that has tons of step by step drawing tutorials. I love this Harry Potter one so much. We are halfway through reading book 2!

You have mastered the art of building beds out of couch cushions and blankets. If only you loved actually going to bed as much as you love pretending to go to bed. 

It is rare day when you don't build a fort or some kind of pillow construction 

You have been playing great with Annie lately. I love that you can read her books now (preferably in a pillow fort)

You are going through a phase when you yell "MOM! TAKE A PICTURE OF ME!" Whenever you climb on anything

Like a monkey

Killer fashion sense, dude. 

FASHION

Some awesome photo booth app pictures

That one time that you covered your face in green chalk

This last picture is from when I told you the story of the Mars rover Opportunity. Oppy's mission was only supposed to last 90 days, but the valiant little rover kept on doing his science thing for 14 years! Eventually his solar panels got damaged. His last transmission home was "my battery is low and it's getting dark." After failing to regain communication, NASA bid him farewell by sending him Billie Holiday's "I'll be Seeing You." The last verse of the song is:

I'll find you in the morning sun and when the night is new

I'll be looking at the sun but I'll be seeing you

At this point Elliot and I were listening to the song and openly weeping about how much the scientists loved that robot that is all alone and broken somewhere on Mars. I love how tender hearted you are. I love you so much and am so glad that you're mine!