Georgette Marsh said her three-year-old son Elijah never hesitated to cheer his mother up when she was sad.

"Elijah was loving, always asking if I was ok. Always kissing me, 'Mommy what’s wrong? Come, come let me give you a kiss,'" she recalled in an emotional interview with CP24's Tracy Tong Saturday night.

"I’m hearing it now. 'Don’t cry mommy.' There is no question about where Elijah is... There is only one place Elijah could be right now and that is the only thing that keeps me going."

For the first time Saturday night, the grief-stricken mother saw the mountain of toys, flowers and cards that have been placed at her son's memorial. She said she is "overwhelmed" by the love and support she has received and thanked those who frantically went to search for her son on the morning he went missing.

"To the two gentlemen who found my baby, I can’t imagine what that moment was like," she said tearfully. "But I thank you and everyone who came out to search for him. May god bless your hearts."

Elijah was found without vital signs at around 10 a.m. Thursday morning about 300 metres from his grandmother’s Neptune Drive apartment building, near Wilson Avenue and Bathurst Street.

The little boy was captured on a surveillance camera wandering away from the building at around 4 a.m. He was wearing only a T-shirt, diaper and winter boots and the temperature outside was -17 C but felt more like -28 with the wind chill.

Elijah’s family did not discover that he was missing until 7:30 a.m.

Elijah's grandmother, Claudette Marsh, said she was working when the three-year-old disappeared but said his aunt was at home looking after him at the time. She told CP24 Saturday night that she has no idea how this tragic incident could have occurred.

"He was well taken care of, no mistake about it," she said of her grandson, who she described as her "world."

Elijah was remembered by his mother as an "old spirit" who loved Spiderman and playing with his toy cars.

"Elijah doesn’t have to think about the suffering where he is now. I’m trying to be strong for my baby boy because he was strong for me."

Elijah's father also spoke publicly for the first time Saturday, telling CP24's Travis Dhanraj that he knows his son would have grown up to be a “bright” and “articulate” young man.

“You can bet he was going to be nurtured well,” Elijah’s father, Curt Barry, said of the toddler.

“You can bet he was going to be vocal and he was going to do things his way in this life.”

With reports from CP24's Tracy Tong and Travis Dhanraj