Elliot's Commandments

I just sent Elliot off to school. On his way out the door, I gave him a hug and kiss tried to to add a brief behavior pep talk.

Me: "Okay Elliot, have fun, are you going to be a good friend today?"
E: "Yup!"
Me:"And what should we NOT do at school?"
E: "Don't hit, don't kick, don't throw Goldfish..."
Me:"... don't say mean things..."
E: "And don't say F**KIN."

Siren in training

Little Commander

I have always wondered what goes on in the period of time between closing the door for naptime, and when he actually surrenders to sleep. Today I got a small glimpse.

I went in Elliot's room to wake him up and found him in the fetal position. He was now wearing a necktie, and surrounded by an army of rubber lizards and bugs on his bed [It was much funnier before I took this picture - he rolled over when I ran to get the camera]. I wonder if he gave them orders before he drifted off.

Hard to hold a grudge

This morning we went to Elliot's therapy and then to the Y. We ended up leaving abruptly because Elliot got into a tiff with another boy, and then got sassy with the staff when they put him in time out. Uh uh, doesn't fly anymore... playtime's over.

I was stern with him in the car, and as I stewed during the drive home, Audrey didn't help things by starting to scream -- it was close to naptime; she was refusing a paci and her drinks and snacks were long gone. I yelled back to Elliot to try making her laugh. He attempted his usual repertoire of silly talk and failed.

Then, in a very quiet voice, he started singing to her:
"Close your eyes, please don't cry, quiet baby, lullabye"

After he repeated the tune a few times, Audrey was quiet. My eyes welled up with tears. How could he go from being so hateful earlier to this angelic display of concern for his sister?

He claims he just made the song up. Wherever it came from, I think it was the sweetest sound I've ever heard.

Respect your elders

We were in HEB today, looking for laundry detergent, when an elderly couple shuffled past us, fixated on their grocery list. The woman had an interesting hair color, as old ladies sometimes do -- perhaps her hair used to be naturally red, but now it was dyed more of a bright orange. This could not go unnoticed by Elliot. He stood up in the cart and broadcast:

"Mommy! Check out that lady's crazy hair!"

The nice thing about old people? I don't think they heard him.

Night visitors

Elliot has been on an imaginary friend kick for awhile now. He has a friend named "Duvvy" (I don't know what he's trying to say, but that's what the name sounds like), who has a cat named Floffy. Recently he told me, after a vague-yet-brief conversation about death, that Duvvy died because he got too old, and so now he will talk specifically about Old Duvvy or New Duvvy.

Anyway, we haven't heard much about either Duvvy lately, but he has some new invisible friends. Elliot has become smitten with our old MST3K tapes -- he doesn't have the slightest idea what's going on, but LOVES the host segments with the 'bots, and also the sequences of opening/closing doors. So now, he hangs out with Tom, Crow, and Joel.

The other night I tucked him into bed, but heard him screwing around up there later so I went up to check on him. He was babbling away, so I opened his door, and instead of brusquely telling him to be quiet as I'm prone to do, I asked, "Hey Elliot, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, hehe, Tom and Crow and Joel are here. I heard them outside, they climbed up the wall with suction cups."

"Oh, okay," I said. "Well, you need to tell your friends it's time to go to sleep."

Elliot leans over and whispers to his trouble-making buddies. He has made them a nest of blankets and pillows at the end of his own bed.

"Goodnight Elliot." I start to slip out the door.

"Mommy? You need to say goodnight to Tom and Crow. And Joel doesn't feel good, you need to give him a kiss and a hug."

Yes, my dreams have come true -- I got to kiss Joel goodnight!

Don't ask, don't tell

This morning we pulled into the parking lot for Elliot's therapy session. It's located in a strip mall, up the sidewalk from an Army recruiting station. A soldier will often be standing out front talking on a cel phone or smoking. Today, it was the latter.
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I turned off the car and hit the button to automatically open Elliot's door as I got out. He immediately points and yells, "MOMMY, LOOK! THAT GUY HAS SOMETHING ICKY!!"

I guess I've taught him well on that one.

Preach it, sister

Kind of off-topic from the purpose of this journal, but I saw this wonderful quote today and had to write it down:

"Motherhood brings as much joy as ever, but it still brings boredom, exhaustion, and sorrow too. Nothing else ever will make you as happy or as sad, as proud or as tired, for nothing is quite as hard as helping a person develop his own individuality especially while you struggle to keep your own." -- Marguerite Kelly and Elia Parsons