old school cartoons

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

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!

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?

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.

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!

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.

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

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

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!

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!