I officially have permission to break the big news: I'm going to be a big brother! No word yet on whether it's a dude or a chick, but I'm pretty stoked to find out. The kid's coming in early March, so luckily I will have exhausted my parents' yearly birthday present budget before then. It's all a bit confusing right now, but as long as I get the same heaping helping of concentrated love and attention as I do right now, I'm sure everything will turn out fine.

I love my unborn baby brother/sister!

I'm going through a big "why" phase now, partly because I really want to know and partly because I can really send my parents over the edge after about ten straight "why"'s. Sometimes, however, this exercise helps me get to the bottom of some serious information that has been hidden from me. Case in point: I get out of the bath the other day and catch mommy looking at pictures of houses on the computer. The conversation goes like this:

Eli: Mommy, what are you looking at?
Mommy: Well, I'm looking at houses.
E: Why are you looking at houses?
M: Uh... we're looking for a new house to live in.
E: Why are we looking for a new house to live in?
M: We need to move somewhere else.
E: (pause) I don't want to move out of this house.
M: But we have to. Daddy needs to find a job after he leaves school.
E: Why does Daddy need to find a job?
M: So he can make money so we can buy food.
E: Why do we need food?
M: Eli, enough with the why's. You know, we get to move to a new state. We'll be living in Pennsylvania!
E: (pause) But I don't want to leave Virginia.
M: Crap.
E: (pause) Will someone else live in this house after we leave?
M: Yes, I think someone will live in this house.
E: I don't want anyone else to live in this house. (pause) I don't want to leave Virginia.

So what's up with this, huh? Leaving Virginia? Leaving the white houses? Was someone going to tell me before the frickin' moving van pulled up next year? In any event, why Pennsylvania? What was up with us spending the summer in Seattle? I promise you, my readers, that I will get some answers on this. Even if it means asking "why"...

Lastly-- my dad has had a rough semester so far, so he has been unable to provide his usual grammatical assistance in the last month or so. I'll try to post more frequently now that he has more time to proofread my material.