Eli Steinbach is back home and doing well after nearly drowning after Thanksgiving

MINNEAPOLIS — A young boy who was pulled unresponsive from a pond a month ago is back home and doing well.

4-year-old Eli slipped out of his house with his younger brother, then fell through thin ice across the street.

"He wakes up in the morning and he talks our ears off until he goes to bed at night and it's weird because he's speaking better than he did, when, before, prior to the accident," said his mom, Cate Shields.

It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving and she was putting Eli's siblings down for a nap, when she says he got out of the house with his younger brother. "My house was dead silent and I looked out the front window and I see Remi's green coat and he's standing in the middle of the ice. And there's a big hole in the ice."

They called 911 -- and called for Remi to come off the ice. She says it's all kind of a blur, but she recalls Eli's rescue. "This wonderful officer, she jumped through the ice, grabbed him out," said Shields.

Shields says first responders gave him CPR for what felt like 30 minutes or longer to get his heart beating. He'd be on a ventilator at Hennepin Healthcare, then in a medically induced coma, before signs of her son started emerging. She says the support kept them going.

"It means everything to me, and I got to speak to those doctors and thank those doctors," said Cate.

Now that Eli's home, he's still going to physical, occupational and speech therapy. Mom says he's doing well.

"It's a great feeling honestly. It's chaos but chaos is our lives, and we love it. Joe and I are ecstatic to have all 5 of them home and healthy."