Christmas Pageant '08

The Christmas Pageant at Eliot's school has improved significantly from previous years. Well, maybe I should rephrase that. The young ones are still crazy and the whole thing is still chaotic. But Eliot's class has significantly improved. This year they sang "Christmas in Dixie". All the kids knew most of the words, but especially the chorus. When the chorus came up they all yelled... err... I mean sang, "CHRISTMAS IN DIXIE! WITH SNOWFALL ALL AROUND!!!" It was powerful! The biggest surprise of all, though, was that all the little girls were dressed in old-timey dresses with hats, and all the boys had tuxedos. I'll tell you what, they looked GOOD! The teachers kept it a surprise from all of us parents, and a couple of us shed a few tears (especially the moms of boys). Not only because they looked so cute and so grown up, but because this was our last Christmas Pageant. They will all be going in different directions next year, starting real school. Eliot's been with most of those kids since they were teeny tiny babies. They've all grown up together and all of us parents have grown to be pretty good friends, too.

Ok, enough of that. I'm sure there will be a lot more to say about sentimental emotion at the graduation. So how about a picture of a good looking boy in a fancy tuxedo?

visiting Santa

Eliot and I have been discussing Christmas since Thanksgiving. He had told me that he wanted a marshmallow shooter and a martian maker. And here's where I learned my lesson.. I had pretty much completed all of my shopping, and THEN took Eliot to see Santa. Of course, he plopped down in Santa's lap and said he wanted "a Luke Skywalker costume and a real live toy lightsaber." Uh... oops. Ok, so lesson learned for this Christmas? Always take the kid to see Santa before you go shopping.

So, after visiting Santa, I asked Eliot, "What was that all about? A Luke Skywalker costume? A lightsaber? You never said anything about that to me!" Then he said, "Well, I wasn't asking you. I was asking Santa!" A very good point, indeed. Anyway, Christmas is not quite here yet, but I'm betting Santa's going to pull through for him.

update: the very next week, Santa came to visit Eliot's school. When he did his big "Ho ho ho, what d'ya want for Christmas" schpiel, Eliot sighed deeply and said, "I already told you!"

working together

“Justin and I want to work together when we grow up, but he wants to be a train engineer and I want to be an artist. So I think I’ll paint a picture of him driving the train while he gives me a ride.”

his heart is aflame.

Last night Eliot slammed the refrigerator door. He wasn’t mad or anything, he just wanted to see what would happen. We had already had a few words, so when he slammed the door I took my most motherly stance, with one hand on my hip and the other pointing directly to the door. “Go. Just go in the living room. Now. Just go.”
A few minutes later Eliot asked me to come look at his picture. He had drawn a heart, engulfed in flames. “Wow,” I said. “Isn’t that something? Why did you decide to draw that?”
“Because you said you don’t love me anymore. That’s why.”
Of course, I assured him that I didn’t say that, nor would I EVER say that, etc. But I also told him that a picture of a heart engulfed in flame is pretty dramatic for any situation. So the next picture was one of a heart surrounded by a bunch of fans… to blow the flames away.

A little late... Halloween

BOY! Am I behind or what?? But not to worry, I have several entries in the making that I hope to post soon. But first..




Well, another Halloween has come and gone. Eliot got more candy than any one person could possibly consume – most of which has been taken to work to be given away. But don’t worry, there’s plenty left for him. After Trick-or-Treating around my office, at the Halloween parade at school, and around the neighborhood (in addition to all the candy we didn’t give away to trick-or-treaters), there is plenty for everyone!
Eliot decided to be a bat this year. Which I was thrilled with, because it gave me one more year to dress him in an awesome cute costume before I have to deal with Transformers or Power Rangers or something else that will just serve to remind me that my baby is not a baby anymore. Which was the case when one of our neighbors asked if Eliot was going to eat all that candy in one night. With a laugh, Eliot said, “uhhh.. let’s just take this one day at a time!”
His bucket was filled and I'm glad to make it one more year!