EliotBlog

old school cartoons

2009-11-16T18:26:00.000-06:00

I left the TV on classic cartoons yesterday while I did some chores. When I came back into the living room, Eliot was watching Road Runner. I asked him for a synopsis.
Eliot: Well, there’s this wolf and an ostrich. The wolf is always trying to kill the ostrich for some reason, but the ostrich keeps getting away. Even if it’s a bomb or something.
Me: Actually, that’s a coyote and a road runner, not a wolf and an ostrich.
Eliot: I don’t really know what you’re talking about, but that (pointing at the TV) is definitely an ostrich.

injury

2009-06-30T20:36:00.001-05:00

So, here’s what happened on Father’s Day. Mostly we had a pretty good day. Eliot and I made pancakes for Dad, and gave him a new grill. We did a little shopping that afternoon – bought a few new movies and hit the Old Navy for some new clothes. When we got home, we hit a snag.
Eliot was not rough-housing or anything, but he just tripped on the edge of the rug and fell, face-first into the corner of the coffee table. Upon inspection, I could see that he had bent his right, front, upper tooth almost completely backward. His lip started to swell from the cut on the inside. We called the pediatrician and they said that he could probably wait until the next morning to see the dentist. He licked a spoonful of peanut butter for dinner, took some ibuprofen and went to bed.
The next morning, he was almost unrecognizable. His upper lip had swollen so big that it hung completely over his bottom lip. He couldn’t talk or eat at all. He just laid in bed next to me with silent tears running down the side of his face. The earliest appointment I could get with the dentist was 10:00. We were there by 9:30.
Sure enough, the tooth had to be pulled. Actually, Dr. Carr gave me the option of trying to re-set the tooth, but that would have meant two weeks on a soft diet and even then, it might not work and have to be pulled anyway. I figured, it’s a baby tooth, so let’s just do it! Eliot was absolutely wonderful! He laid there perfectly still and let them work on his mouth. He looked like he was scared to death. But I tried to keep holding his hand and talking to him and smiling at him.
Of course, they numbed the surface of his gums first, then Novocained him up real good. Then they pulled the tooth right on out. However, once his mouth was numb and we could get a good look at the injury on the inside of his lip, it became pretty obvious that it was beginning to get infected (yucky mouth germs, and of course, he hadn’t brushed his teeth since the previous morning). In hindsight, I probably should have taken him to the ER Sunday night to get stitches. But at the time I was much more concerned about the tooth. It turned out, though, that the lip injury was much worse than the tooth injury. Dr. Carr put him on antibiotics. It took two full days for the swelling to go down much at all. The first day he pretty much laid on the sofa licking peanut butter and dozing off and on. The second day he was feeling a little better, but still very swollen. At least he was talking and eating a few more things (bananas, yogurt, egg). He went back to school on Wednesday, but it was another two days for the swelling to go away completely. But by Friday, he was completely back to his old self, minus one tooth (two if you count the one he lost the old-fashioned way).

Milestone alert!

2009-06-04T19:24:00.006-05:00

Look at this!! Eliot lost his first tooth on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 at approximately 8:15AM. We were driving to school that morning and Eliot was chowing down on some cantaloupe. Suddenly he yelled, “OH! OH! My loose tooth!” I glanced back there to see him staring at it in his cupped hand. I have never, ever seen such a look of astonishment on his face before. He knew that it was going to come out, but I think that the sensation of the moment completely surprised him.
There was absolutely no blood whatsoever. By the time we got to school, Eliot was positively beaming with excitement. He told everyone that we passed in the hall. That night, the Tooth Fairy brought him a 2-dollar bill. He put it in his “things you don’t see everyday” collection (along with his soccer trophy).
Of course the whole thing has made me sentimental. I have been loving that little tooth for a really long time.
Anyway, now he’s got a gap in his mouth to match the gap in his hair.

Say WHAT?

2009-06-04T19:01:00.002-05:00

Friday night, I put Eliot to bed. I gave him plenty of hugs and kisses and books and then – lights out. So I was hanging around watching TV when I hear the pitter-patter of little feet down the stairs. That is not an uncommon experience in our house, but what followed has never before happened. Eliot said something that no parent ever wants to hear… completely nonchalantly, he sauntered around the corner and asked, “hey Mom, does my hair look shorter to you?”
I responded the only way I could, having been confronted with such information in that manner… nonchalantly.
“Yes, Eliot. Yes it does, in fact. That should look great in those school pictures next week.”
Consequently, all of the scissors have been rounded up into one place. Also, Eliot has been sufficiently embarrassed by having to explain to everyone that he did NOT get a haircut recently, but why it does, indeed, look shorter.

age appropriate? You decide.

2009-05-28T19:27:00.003-05:00

Eliot and Brian are playing video games. Eliot hit a wall with his car. Brian said, "well.. that bites." I covered my mouth and mumbled/whispered "don't. say. bites." Brian immediately covered his mouth and said, "sorry! Oops! Sorry!"
Eliot: Mommy? what did you just say?
Me: Nothing.
Eliot: did you say "don't say bites?"
Me: yes. I don't like for you to say that.
Eliot: bites. Bites, bites, bites!
Daddy: You might get in trouble at school if you say that. so please stop.
Me: Yeah, remember how the other kids got in trouble today for saying things that were inappropriate? Well, you could too.
Eliot pauses. Thinks for a second. then says: TEN THOUSAND BITES!
Daddy: stoppit.
Eliot: Bites.
Daddy: Ok, time to go take a bath. C'mon.
Eliot goes upstairs and gets undressed. The bathwater starts running. Eliot screams, "somebody get the air freshener!" Apparently, he has to GO to the bathroom.
Obviously taking a lesson from the previous conversation, Daddy opts to ignore that statement. They have a little exchange about bath-time and washing hair and clean clothes and the dentist appointment he had today. Daddy cleans Eliot's hair and then retreats so Eliot can clean the rest of himself.
Many minutes of splashing, quiet, singing, splashing.
Then: "BIIIIIIITES!"

California, that way!

2009-04-17T10:08:00.000-05:00

Eliot is remembering his friend Adeline, who moved to Oklahoma a few years ago. He wanted to view the map to see where Oklahoma was. "Why does it have that thing? that pointy thing?" he asked. "I don't know. that's just how it's shaped," I explained
He looked at it for a few seconds. "Oklahoma is saying 'LOOK, Look over there! It's California!"

yes, i suppose it IS a question word.

2009-04-14T20:46:00.002-05:00

Eliot: Mommy? Is "howcumum" a question word?
Me: "Howcumum"? I've never even heard of that word. What does it mean?
Eliot: You don't know what "howcumum" means?? *rolls eyes* It's like if you say to somebody.. "How come, uhm... the sky is blue?"

reading

2009-04-11T19:21:00.001-05:00

My very most favorite time of day is when Eliot and I snuggle into his bed and read books together. We’ve gone together from picture books to story books to chapter books, with some poetry, non fiction and comic books thrown in. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, we read every night, and have done so since he was born. And I have loved every single minute of it! Well, last night marked the next phase in this wonderful tradition that we have. Eliot read a book to ME. He read Green Eggs and Ham all the way through. Was it memorized, not really read? Some of it, I’m sure. But I prefer to think of it as “sight recognition”. There was also plenty of “sounding out”, so I know that the concept of reading is sinking in. Also, I was very impressed that he got all of the “on’s” and “in’s” etc. correct. That means that he was paying attention to the words, even if he sort of knew what was coming next. Regardless of any of those details, I think this is definitely a great first step! Tonight he’s going to read Hop on Pop to me. I can’t wait!

Interview with Eliot

2009-04-03T18:11:00.002-05:00

1. What is something your mom always says to you?

Ok Eliot, time to get in the car.

2. What makes mom happy?

At school I made her a crown that made her happy.

3. What makes mom sad?

When I do stuff bad.

4. What does your mom do to make you laugh?

When I was a baby... Mommy shook my Bear Bear when I was going up the steps.

5. What was your mom like as a child?

She had a dress.

6. How old is your mom?

35 (he's right!)

7. How tall is your mom?
8 feet (after measuring me with "about a foot" apart with his fingers)

8. What is her favorite thing to do?

play with me

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?

go to work when I'm at school.

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?

'Cause she's going to start a play.

11. What is your mom really good at?
getting my dinner fixed.

12. What is your mom not very good at?

video games

13. What does your mom do for her job?

raise money.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?

Kafka.

15. What makes you proud of your mom?

I'm proud of her when she's proud of me.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

Princess Leia

17. What do you and your mom do together?

snuggle

18. How are you and your mom the same?

well, we're both a person.

19. How are you and your mom different?

my mom's taller than me.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?

Cause she does nice stuff for me.

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?

McDonald's.

April Fool's!

2009-04-02T20:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was April 1st – April Fool’s Day. Eliot really got into it. All the way home he would tell me things (“there’s a dinosaur headed straight toward us!”) followed almost immediately by a very sing-songey “APRIL FOOL’S!” After several of these, I told him that he needed to work on his story a little bit. You know, add a little more meat to it.

So later that evening we were eating dinner. Eliot said, “Hey Daddy, you know what? A real live ALIEN came to my school today!” “Really?” said Daddy. “Yes, and he had one eye and a square belly and two antennas on his head. And he was purple and green, and orange hair and a big, huge mouth. And he went from classroom to classroom eating all of the snacks. I was holding my fork like this! Then all of a sudden the alien snatched it from me. Nobody got to eat their oranges from the Babybirds to the Wildflowers.” After Brian had made sufficient “wow’s” and “no way’s” then Eliot sang out “APRIL FOOL’S!” Now that’s what I call meat!

Disney World Day 5 AND MORE!!

2009-03-01T13:58:00.002-06:00

Eliot's last day at Disney World included three huge events: Character breakfast with Minnie, Donald and Goofy, Electric Light Parade, and Fireworks Show. We met them on Friday at the airport, and I was uncontrollably happy when I saw him trotting down the concourse. He had his Mickey Ears on, Goofy shirt, and a big button that said "1st Visit!" In addition, he was wearing his backpack that he took on the plane, and a huge smile. He was making friends with a nice woman that was walking alongside them, telling her all about his Disney trip. When he saw me, he started running with his arm wide open, just like in the movies. I'm tearing up all over again just thinking about it now. So all in all it was a very good trip for him. I've uploaded tons of photos here.

Ok, so here's the "AND MORE" part. I've spent the better part of the weekend uploading photos to the gallery, and I had a lot to catch up on.
Starting with Christmas.
Also 5th birthday party.
And just this weekend: soccer and snow day.

There, now that should keep everyone busy for a while!

Disney World Day 4

2009-02-25T19:30:00.006-06:00

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

2009-02-24T18:53:00.003-06:00

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

2009-02-23T21:12:00.002-06:00

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

2009-02-22T19:29:00.002-06:00

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

2009-02-08T18:49:00.003-06:00

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

2009-02-06T18:29:00.001-06:00

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.”

Christmas Pageant '08

2008-12-24T11:57:00.004-06:00

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

2008-12-24T11:42:00.003-06:00

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

2008-12-13T10:42:00.000-06:00

“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.

2008-12-05T19:02:00.001-06:00

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

2008-12-03T18:54:00.003-06:00

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!

no need to panic.

2008-10-05T09:22:00.001-05:00

When I picked Eliot up from school one day last week, his teacher met me in the lobby. She wanted to tell me of an “incident” on the playground that afternoon.

Apparently, the events transpired thusly:

Eliot was playing with a couple of his friends. Parents were starting to come for pick-up. One of his friends ran up to the teacher and asked if she knew where Eliot was. Had his mommy come to get him? No, she had not. But certainly, he was nowhere to be seen. They checked the sign-out log, and sure enough, he had not been signed out. At that point, his teacher relayed, panic set in. She told the front desk that she thought she had a missing child, and inquired of the “missing child protocol”.

Meanwhile, the other teachers on the (very large) playground began a serious search. They looked in the bushes, in the tube slide, behind all the corners… Nothing. One of his old teachers (Ms. Melissa) thought it odd that Eliot would disappear. She was sure that it wasn’t in his nature to run off. That’s when she spied, in the far corner of the playground, The Ball Bucket. Acting on hunch, she approached The Ball Bucket, where she found my precious son, crouched down, head covered. “Eliot? Whatcha doin’?” He looked up at her and whispered, “Shhh! We’re playing Hide and Seek. They have not found me yet.” And crouched back down inside the bucket. At which point the search was called off, the panic subsided, and the teachers all breathed a sigh of relief.

The whole incident lasted about 30 minutes, from what I can gather. I’m sure Eliot would have remained in the bucket indefinitely, if it weren’t for Ms. Melissa giving away his hiding place (which he was somewhat disappointed about). It certainly was the talk of the school yesterday afternoon. The teachers all had a very good nature about it, laughing and calling it “The Great Hide-N-Seek Incident”. Even this morning several teachers stopped me to compliment Eliot’s superior hiding skills.

CVS and umbellas

2008-09-12T20:23:00.001-05:00

One recent rainy day Eliot and I had to run an errand to the CVS. He took along his umbrella, of course, to stay dry on that long walk from the car to the CVS door. As we walked through the aisles he would push the umbrella open over and over. Water was getting everywhere, he wasn’t watching where he was going and let’s face it - opening an umbrella inside is just plain bad luck! I scolded him, saying that I would take it away if he couldn’t quit. A few moments later I turned around only to find… you guessed it! The open umbrella. I stopped and stared at him with my hands on my hips, putting on my best, “what do you have to say for yourself??” face. He closed the umbrella and dropped his head. He shook it and said with a sigh, “I just can’t do it Mommy. You’re JUST going to have to take it away from me.”

Well, if you must know, NO, I didn’t take it away like I said I would! With all the ladies standing around with their “aawww’s” and “how sweet’s”. We were nearly finished anyway, so I just encouraged him saying, “C’mon, Eliot! I KNOW you can do it! We’re almost there! We’re almost out the door! C’MON!” Judge me if you must, but at least we made it out the door with the umbrella closed!

Wildflower

2008-08-13T21:15:00.000-05:00

This week Eliot started his first day of the last class at Hand In Hand (Wildflowers). They will be doing some things that are a little "older" than the other classes. Like, they still have Circle Time, but they call it Class Time. They will be doing more guided class activities. Also, Eliot has noted that their nap time is shorter. As in, if you don't feel like napping you can go to the Quiet Center. Quiet Center is not to be confused with Book Center. In the Quiet Center you just, "relax and enjoy yourself." It should be noted that this is a quote from Eliot, not the teacher. The other thing that they are doing is called Handwriting Without Tears. The whole class sounds like New Age Feelgoodery to me, but I suppose if he comes out of it with proper handwriting skills and an earlier bedtime then I can look over it.
At any rate, all of his friends are in this new class, too, and they are all very full of themselves. Even at the tender age of 4, they all know that they are the Big Dogs, so to speak. We didn't buy a whole bunch of new school clothes except for these really awesome new sneakers. Naturally, they make him run faster than any other shoes in the whole store, and that's something that I can certainly support.

So we are all really excited about the new class. Even with all of the New Age Feelgoodery I think he'll be prepared next year when he starts Kindergarden.