Disney World Day 4

Eliot had big news today. They went on the Jungle Tour, and it had lots of animals, but they were all "costumes on top of machines. Not real animals." The really exciting part was that he got to drive the boat! The skipper was scared to go into a cave ("I don't know why she was so scared. I'm sure she's been in there before.") so she asked Eliot to drive. When it was over, he got his "driving license for that boat!" Apparently it's only good for THAT boat. Good for me, cause I'm not quite ready for that yet.

His least favorite thing that they did today was the Haunted Mansion. He said that it was "a little too scary for my age." I said that I thought (as he tells me on a daily basis) that he wasn't afraid of anything except escalators. He quickly corrected that it was only BIG escalators that he was afraid of... not little ones. Then he said, "look. Hold up your hands the size of an ant. You got it?" "Yup. they are the size of an ant." "OK. Now. That's how afraid I was... OK? Only that much. Not like a big escalator."

Something that I'm surprised about is that he has not insisted on the swimming pool. It is an outdoor pool, but I really thought that he'd still insist anyway. The weather in Orlando has been very, very temperate - 50-78 or so.

One other thing he's mentioned every night is that the beds are very close together. It occurred to me that he's never been in a typical hotel room before. Nor do we have twin beds in our house anywhere. They really DO put those beds close together. You gotta love the simple excitement of something like that.

I was a little curious if they had seen Chip N Dale again today. Yes. They had! (That's kinda weird). No Mickey or Donald, but plenty of Chip N Dale. I asked if he had seen Cinderella. No. Snow White? No. Ariel? No.

I heard some muffled Gigi voice in the background. Then some silence. Big sigh.

"Ok. Well, we did see some princesses, but we just ignored them."

Tomorrow: Character breakfast and Electric Light Parade. I'm almost positive that the Character breakfast is going to happen, but the nightly phone calls are getting earlier and earlier every night. I'd be surprised if the parade happens. I hope so, though. I'm sure Eliot would love the fireworks.

Disney World Day 3

Eliot and Gigi went to EPCOT today. According to Eliot there were not only 1001 and beyond people, but more. "One thousand and on HUNDRED and beyond (including the employees)".

The only had time to visit Mexico and Canada, but they rode on a boat in Mexico. They went on the imagination ride, and saw Chip again. Eliot has reported Chip sightings all three days so far. Where was Dale? Who knows!

They saw a Nemo show also. It just reminded Eliot how much he loved the story. I am pretty sure it's his favorite of all time. They also went to the aquarium and saw one Crush, one Bruce, one Mr. Ray, three Nemos, two Marlins and about a million Dory's.

Later Brian asked if there were a lot of people at EPCOT. There were lots, he reiterated that there were one thousand one hundred and beyond people there. "Yeah," said Brian "there are lots of people in the world." "Well not as many as there are at EPCOT! Including the employees!"

Disney World Day 2

Eliot and Gigih went to the Animal Kingdom today, on Safari. They even had to chase off the poachers! How brave is that?? There was a jeep ride of some sort where they saw crocodiles and alligators. And also, did you know?? there is a snake that is as fast as a cheetah? Cause I didn't. And also? The soap in the hotel room is shaped like Mikey Mouse. Both very exciting.

There was a parade with Mickey and Minnie and Goofey and Crocodiles on stilts. And a real live gorilla that was "not really real live, but a person in a gorilla suit." I didn't understand the whole story, but apparently the word "underpants" was involved, which as everyone knows, is the most hillarious word ever invented, particularly when a gorilla says it. I hope Eliot does not come away from Disney thinking that "underpants" was the highlight of the whole advenure.

Eliot and Gigi lucked into front row seats at The Lion King. Eliot was very enthralled with the baton twirler that had flames on his baton. But, as I found out, he only light the fire after he practiced a couple of times with the regular baton. "Practice makes perfect, you know." Eliot's words of wisdom. Certainly, always be sure you practice twirling your baton before you light it aflame.

I asked him again, but in other words, if there were lots of people in the park. "yes. 1001 and BEYOND people. So that's a lot!" 1001 and beyond. wow. that's a huge amount of people!

I think Epcot is tomorrow. I asked Eliot to take some pictures of England. I told him how much his Daddy and I love England. "Do you like to cross London Bridge?" "yes. London Bridge is my favorite bride to cross." "Well, I'll ask Gigi to take a picture. She's the one with the camera."

I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow on their trip around the world!

Disney World Day 1

Me: Is Disney World bigger than you thought it would be?
Eliot: No. It's exactly what I thought it would be by my estimation.

Me: Did you see any characters? Like Mickey or anybody?
Eliot: I saw Pluto and Chip and Dale. I had my picture made with Pluto, but not those hamsters.

Me: Is it very crowded there?
Eliot: Well... no. Not really. It's just me and Gigi, but there are two beds. So, we're good.

5 year checkup

Our 5 year checkup was very good! The bad news is that he had three shots. The good news is that he won't need another one for 10 years (aside from flu shots). His height is 42 1/2", and his weight is 39 lbs (right on average). His diagnosis is "Well Child", which is always nice to see in writing, even though I knew it already. He was very good with his shots, as always. He is very good with almost everything as long as he has warning. I had told him about the shots (like last year) and answered him honestly (like last year) that it would probably hurt a little. But only for a second. I guess the nurses are used to just getting it over with quickly, because she came at him like a bat out of hell with that needle. I had to stop her suddenly, "whoa! hey!! wait! You didn't even warn him!" I'm very glad I did, though, because I needed to tell Eliot that it was coming. It's very important to me that he trusts me. And he appreciated it, too. He barely let out a tiny "eeep" for each shot, and afterward told me, "That wasn't so bad, but I'm glad I knew it was going to happen."
The worst part of the whole thing was the urine sample. When the nurse told him what he was going to do with that cup, he looked at her like she had totally lost his mind. "NO!" he said, "no.. but... no! WHY?!" Between the lines, he was saying, "Why on earth would you want that.. IN A CUP??" He looked at me like seriously, mom? Seriously???
I took him to the rest room had a long talk with him. He kept asking WHY? I tried to explain that the doctor could tell a whole lot about what was going on inside his body with that sample. Things that we couldn't see on the outside. "Like what?" he wanted to know. Honestly, I couldn't tell him. So we asked Dr. Stansell when he came in. Dr. Stansell was wonderful, as usual, answering his ever question. "Well, we can tell if you are getting enough vitamins. Or if you body can process sugar correctly. We can even tell if you are drinking enough water. We can see if your liver and kidneys are healthy. And if you eat your vegetables."
It should come as no surprise that Eliot was perfectly fine after an explanation. He's very much about information (big shout out to his dad on that one!) Once Dr. Stansell explained everything he nodded his head. "Ok, then," he said. "I'll do it."
So in the end it was lollipops all around and "I'll see you in a year!"

collections

Eliot and I were discussing collections last night. We were talking about how you don’t really DO anything with collections, you just look at them, or learn about them, but that’s about all they are good for. Eliot mentioned that he has two collections: rocks and seashells. “Right,” I said, “But you don’t really DO anything with them. You just collect them.”
“But I’m going to do something with them,” he replied.
“Oh yeah? What?” I asked.
“Well, with the rocks I’m going to make jewelry. I’m going to drill holes in them with a drill and then string them like beads. And then make jewelry.”
“That’s a great idea! I’d love to wear some of that jewelry!” I said. “And what about the seashells? Are you going to make jewelry out of them, too?”
“No. I’m going to super glue them together like this.” He held his hands open with his wrists touching. “And make clam knick-knacks.”