The three amigos are alive and kicking...sometimes literally, but nonetheless, doing well. A quick rundown of what they're all about recently:
SAMUEL - I thought this picture of a note Samuel wrote this morning in preparation for recess was a good illustration of the intensity of friendships at this age. Samuel's favorite thing to do lately has been shooting on our new basketball hoop. He's probably out there for an hour every day shooting around or playing "pig" or "horse" with a friend. He's in basketball right now, as I've mentioned before, and football practices start soon. He starts Spanish classes today, which I didn't even have to coerce him into. He's eager to be able to talk with me in Spanish "so Dad can't understand." His favorite book lately has been the new Ripley's Believe It Or Not book that you've probably seen in stores. It's filled with all kinds of gross pictures and stories...perfect reading material for a 7-year-old guy.
ISAAC - This little guy keeps us in touch with our sense of humor while keeping us on our toes during all his waking hours. We think he's our most stubborn and strong-willed child. In fact, lately I've considered sending away for Dr Dobson's Strong-Willed Child. Isaac's habit is to scream anytime he doesn't get exactly what he wants. If Lucca comes around (like she always does when there are children gathered at the table) to lick up the crumbs that drop on the floor, he screams and throws a fit because he's just that posessive of his food. He screams at Samuel if Samuel refuses to scratch his arms during a car ride. He screams and Adam and I if we give him his food in the wrong order or in the wrong way. If a stranger looks at him the wrong way in the grocery store, he screws up his face and screams at them. If a stranger pats him on the head or touches his arm in the, "oh what a cute boy," way, he graps their hand and throws it off. Earlier this week I was holding him while standing and talking to a friend. At one point she put her hand on my arm. Isaac gave her the classic stink-eye and pushed her hand off. Then every time I turned my head toward her to talk, he'd take my face in his hands and turn it back to him.
Unfortunately I think we've all doted too much on him and catered to his little idiosyncracies enough that it's time to get in gear and start teaching this little toddler that he can't have things his way ALL the time, or else we'll be sharing a roof with a difficult kid someday!
ELIJAH - Is recently our goofy child, all the time. He's constantly being silly or making jokes or creating, "wouldn't it be funny if..." scenarios. Some funny things he's said in the past day or so:*(In the grocery store) "Isaac, if you don't stop whining and screaming, Officer Friendly's gonna take you down to Chinatown." The story behind that is that we always call police officers "Officer Friendly" in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way, but the kids caught onto it and it's the household name for police now. So once my brother Charley heard one of the kids refer to seeing an "Officer Friendly" and he shot back with, "Officer Friendly?!? That's Officer Take-You-Down-To-Chinatown!"
*(Upset about something, head hanging low) "I don't want to be the man of the house anymore. And I am DONE protecting this family!"
*"I put my shoes on all by myself. Wow...I'm the most famous boy in the whole world!"
*(Standing in front of the mirror) "I've never seen another Elijah before!"
This recent self-awareness permeates all that he does. He calls himself "Whistle Boy," or "Binocular Boy," or any variety of the characters for which he has dress-up costumes. He often spells his name out to refer to himself in the third person, saying something like, "Hey Mom, can E-L-I-J-A-H have some lunch?" He loves being the silly one in the family right now.
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