My one totally unexpected favorite part of furlough so far has been seeing this boy's amusement, excitement, and downright baffled-ness while observing life in the United States. It started out the moment that we arrived in Miami airport. I said, "Guess what? We're in the United States!" Only for Elijah to inform me that we're in not in the United States because his cousin Noah lives in the Unites States and there is no Noah here! (in Miami)
Then on the way to G-ma and Popi's house from the airport, he shouted full excitement level, "LOOK!!!! It's a MAILBOX!!" Looking back on it, I guess he has only ever seen mailboxes in movies before, and he maybe didn't even realize they are real that they are everywhere :)
Other things he has found exciting or confusing include, but are not limited to:
1. The GPS in the car (constantly wanting to know what it is saying, who is talking, if it's his cousin Charlotte, and why they are not talking anymore when it goes through stretches of no directions)
2. Libraries (totally confused on the concept that we can borrow books)
3. Garbage cans - (In Brazil we put our garbage outside our house in baskets up on poles). He got so pumped when he saw one, just like in his shows, for the first time. Then the garbage can confusion and excitement was doubled when we drove down the street of my parents' development and everyone had the same black garbage cans out at the same time. I mean this was like as excited as a kid gets walking into a candy store…over seeing black garbage cans lined up down the street!
To make the garbage can situation even more confusing and exciting to Elijah, the next day was recycling collection and now suddenly all the cans were BLUE!!!
And THEN, as a final chapter to the fun, we actually saw the garbage truck coming around and automatically picking up the cans with the machine. You can imagine the thrill!
4. Automatic doors opening in stores - Totally amazing to him
5. The fact that my mom's house has a sink in the middle of the kitchen island has Elijah fascinated. Keeps trying to figure out if an island (read, in his mind, an ocean type island) can have water on it. Also, he is dying to see what's going on inside the garbage disposal.
6. Of course then there's the fact that everyone around him speaks "Like this" (as in, in English) and he wants to comment on it all the time and very loudly. ("Listen! He's talking like this too!!!")
7. Sprinkles (as in for ice cream) have been super exciting. He had never seen them before and just wanted to eat them plain when he found then in my mom's pantry. We explained they are for ice cream and he couldn't wait to have ice cream to try them!
8. Jelly Beans - My mom was reading him a book that had jelly beans in them and he had no idea what they were. My mom went out and bought them and showed them to Elijah and he wanted to know why we were going to eat the beans before they were cooked :)
9. Jackets - Didn't' even know what they were. He checked them out in the closet here and we had to explain to him the ins and outs of why a person would wear one (obviously we live somewhere that it's never cold!)
10. Pajamas - along the same lines, Elijah gets all giddy when it's night time and he has to wear pajamas, since at home it's so hot that he just sleeps in undies.
11. Offices - He has never seen a home office before so is baffled about what an office is and what my dad does in his office when he is working. I had quickly explained that it is Popi's room, but then he wanted to know where Popi's bed is if it's his room.
12. Ice cream sandwiches - He heard us talk about one but is so confused about why ice cream goes in a sandwich. We still have to pick one up to clear up the confusion
13. What other people do at work - Elijah is so used to everyone he knows going to the airport/hangar to go to work that when people say they are going to work, he asks if they're going to the airport. When my dad explains that he's going to work at the office (when he's not in his home office) he wants to know who's house its in.
14. Closed doors - At home we have no a/c in our house in general (just window units in our rooms at night) so we leave our doors to the house open all the time. This also makes more sense in Brazil where we have a 10 foot wall around our property, unlike here. Here Elijah gets confused about why we have to shut the front and back doors.
15. Stores that have food and other things - like Walmart and Target. Where we live, there are no giant stores that carry everything. You go to the grocery store for food. The paper store for office supplies. The pharmacy for medicine. While walking around Walmart with Elijah the first time, he asked me, "Does this store have food or stuff?!?" Even now, after a month, when we're in those types of stores he'll want me to say item by item as we put it in the cart if it is food or stuff. I think he's still trying to sort out the whole concept.
What an adventure the whole experience has been for Elijah so far, and completely entertaining to watch him take it all in!
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