Vulcan

While we were driving down I-459 the other day, Eliot spied the Statue of Liberty out the window. “Look! A statue!!,” he said. “I want to go IN that statue!” I don’t know where he got that notion, but while we could not go in that particular statue, I did know of one in the area that we could go IN. I thought he’d forget about it, but I should know better by now. Throughout the week he mentioned it. “I’m going to go IN a statue this weekend.” So, this past Saturday, our family ventured up to Vulcan.

Eliot’s first impression: “that’s a big ole head!” Then, as we rode up in the glass elevator: “Mommy! I can see his BUM!” Only three years old and he’s already in on the city’s most sophomoric inside joke! Insightfully, he came to the only logical conclusion. “Statues don’t wear pants, Mommy.”

If you have not been there since they remodeled, the observation deck is now a narrow, outdoor metal grate. Yes, you can see right through it to the ground below. Did that stop Eliot? OH NO! He ran out of the elevator and started jumping on the metal grate. The whole deck rattled. He ran in circles around the tower. We rode up and down in the elevator several times, then he wanted to go up the stairs. Sure, I thought. Why not? We won’t get far. HA!

A couple of flights up, I asked if he was ready to turn around and go back down. “No, I’m going UP, Mommy. Up to the TOP!” About halfway up I had resorted to extreme measures. “Eliot, why don’t we go down and go to the gift shop? You can get a toy!” “Okay, Mommy, after we get to the TOP.” Sure enough, he walked, all by himself, up every single stair and emerged, yet again, bouncing on the clangy wire grate that they were trying to call a “deck”.

We finally got him out of the statue and into the warmth of the gift shop. It only cost us $2.50 to get out of there. A brief gander through the binoculars and we were back to the car. It was a nice trip, but I think we’ll wait for warmer weather before we do it again.

Eliot Cornett - Boy Genius

As if there was ever any doubt, Eliot is a computer wiz. He knows how to put the CD into the drive, locate the correct icon and start his game. He will click escape to get past the opening credits. He navigates through the screens like a pro, and even knows how to increase the skill level when he needs more of a challenge. We’ve whizzed right through all of the games he got for Christmas, most of which were for ages 3-6. He will play for as long as we’ll let him, so we save computer time for when we need to get other things done around the house. We can usually get a good hour of housecleaning in, almost uninterrupted. Every now and then Eliot will wander into the kitchen and say something like, “can I have some juice while my game is loading?” or “the computer needs to be rebooted” or, when he’s on noggin.com, “can you get rid of the pop-up?” He has his own little child-sized mouse, but the other day he discovered the touchpad on the laptop. He moved the pointer around on the screen saying, “oooh! That’s neat!” So now he’ll go back and forth between the mouse and touchpad. Admittedly, he’s still learning how to use the touchpad, so the mouse is more efficient, but with a little practice he’ll be fine, I’m sure. The reason I’m sure is because everything that he’s ever experienced with the computer has been almost instantly absorbed. So. If any of you need any computer help, feel free to call him – he only charges three pieces of candy per hour.

the animal game

We’ve added a new game to our Grocery Store Games repertoire. I’m sure this game is a derivation of an activity they are doing at school. Every day a different student is assigned a letter, and they must bring an item that begins with that letter. They bring the item in a bag, with clues listed on the outside. The other students must guess what’s in the bag based on the clues. (sidenote: Eliot’s letter is “E”, so if anyone has a good idea about what to put in the bag, let me know. And before anyone says it, I’ve already considered taking him to school in a bag, but I thought DHR would frown on that. Elephant – too big. Egg – too smelly. Ear – too gruesome. I’ve about decided on Elmo, unless I get a better suggestion.)

Anyway… the new game. Eliot will make an animal noise – “tweet tweet” for example. I’ll ask a series of questions, trying to figure out what animal he is. “Do you eat worms?” “Do you live in a nest?” “Do hatch out of an egg?” The best thing is when I ask something that is completely wrong. “Do you have big, giant ears and a trunk?” He’ll laugh and laugh because I’m totally on the wrong track. When I finally guess what animal he is, we’ll switch roles. This is my favorite part because of how he asks the questions. I’ll try to describe it, but it’ll be tough. First he’ll cock his head to the side. Then he furrows his brow and looks at me out of the corner of his eye. He brings his hand up close to his cheek and points at me. Then, in an exaggerated quizzical tone he’ll ask, “Hey, do you live in a barn?” It’s almost more of an accusation than a question. Of course, he is a much better guesser than I, quickly deducing my animal persona.

profound gift

Eliot was invited to a birthday party at Jump Zone last weekend. I thought I was riding with a teenager in the car. All the way there he inquired about who would be in attendance.

“Will Adeline be there?”

“I don’t know who all will be there.”

“What about Gaston? Will he be there?”

“Honey, I really don’t know who will be there. We’ll have to wait and see.”

“Well, Alton will be there. It’s his birthday.”

“Yes, you are probably right. We can count on Alton being there.”

The venue was a sort of warehouse/gymnasium type of building, cordoned off into separate play areas. There are giant inflatable slides, bouncy castles and obstacle courses. Each area has a separate party going on, each party consisting of 30-60 kids – their jubilee rising up into the rafters. I could barely see through all the noise.

As soon as we entered our quadrant, one of Eliot’s friends ran up to him and said, “Hey Eliot! C’mon!” They ran off together, giggling and talking. Suddenly, the noise seemed very far away. I stood in my little quiet bubble, watching Eliot disappear around the corner with his friends. I wasn’t sad or lonely – just sort of confused. What just happened? Who replaced my little boy with this new kid? We’ve always called these kids his “friends”, but when did he develop actual friendships? Wait, are they having a conversation? What on earth could they be talking about? They are just babies!! Then I realized - I was so watching the development of an actual human being – an entity separate from myself. What a gift it was to be able to witness something so profound. I didn’t want the moment to end.

Christmas 2006

Christmas was very exciting! So much to tell… where do I begin? We partied all weekend, starting with Gigi’s house on Friday afternoon. We opened presents and ate cake and played with cousins from Atlanta. Then we were off to Deenie’s annual Christmas party that evening. Eliot ate mint jelly with a spoon, enjoyed the caroling, and fell in love with Jim and his guitar. “Can I touch it?” he kept asking. Jim let him strum while he played the chords, which just might have been the highlight of Eliot’s evening. We got home and in bed late – about 11.

We hit the ground running the next morning, preparing for our own Christmas party. There was cleaning, cooking and last minute shopping to be done. Folks started arriving around six, and before long we had a packed house. Eliot received many fun and exciting gifts from his friends – books, puzzles, candy and more! It was another late night, but Eliot was ready for sleep about 10:30 or so.

Christmas Eve was our light day. After a little party cleanup, we headed to Gigi’s house for a little while, then Eliot and I drove out to Argo to see Grandmother Galloway. We had a very relaxing time driving around Springville looking at all the Christmas lights. We headed home and bedded down for the night, anticipating Santa’s arrival.

Now, Eliot was not very keen on the idea of Santa this season. He flat refused to sit in the Old Man’s lap. “But how will he know what you want him to bring you?” I’d ask. Eliot would reply, “YOU can tell him!” I tried to explain that Santa would be there after he fell asleep, but that just made matters worse. “NOO! I don’t want him to come!” he’d say. “But he has the presents, Eliot!” “He can leave them on the porch.”

As is always the way with his little two-almost-three-year-old behavior, Christmas morning showed us a complete turnaround. First of all, his gift to us was to sleep in late – almost 9:00! We hurried downstairs and Eliot stood in the doorway for a second. In that brief moment, you could see the wheels turning in his head, trying to wrap his arms around the whole idea of Santa, gifts, and the excitement of Christmas morning. The Old Man had left exactly what he had asked for – a scooter. Eliot hopped on and made several laps around the house, grinning from ear to ear. He didn’t even realize there was MORE. We had to show him the rest of the presents. He tore them open, one at a time, wanting to play with each one before moving on. We even forgot about the stocking, but what a wonderful surprise when we remembered a few hours later.

We had family over for Christmas brunch. Very low-key with mimosas and quiche. It was great to spend some quiet time with close family and low stress. After nap, we headed over to Deenie’s house for Christmas dinner. It might well have been the most delicious meal ever, but I think Eliot pretty much ate Jordan Almonds for dinner. There were even MORE presents to unwrap, and Eliot racked up almost as much as he did on Christmas morning.

With all of the excitement, I have to admit that we are pretty happy to be back in a routine. Eliot’s back in school this week and was very happy to reunite with his friends. And I’m happy to be getting a little more rest!

View some pictures in the gallery!