You're In the Christmas Now (Part 2)
"I will TREASURE this FOREVER," said Eli 4.4, holding a still-wrapped Christmas present. "Mommy, what IS it?"For a four-year old, Eli actually did pretty well when it came time to open presents, unlike last year, when he became so frenzied that I felt like Robert Oppenheimer at Trinity.
This year, though, he didn't even want to open one of his presents first. Emily, our babysitter, had been collaborating with Eli on various nefarious projects for several weeks, and Eli handed Gloria the gift he had made, which was a jewelry box with pasta glued on the front in an elaborate design.
Without kids, a jewely box with pasta glued on top doesn't sound like much. With kids, though, you understand that it was, by far, the best gift Gloria received this year.
Eli had written a story for me called "The Hole in My Backyard." It was full of dinosaurs, danger, and last minute escapes. In one scene, I saved the entire family by "pulling lava" with a special rope that shout out of my wrists.
I'm sure I couldn't have done that before I played Guitar Hero.
If you're wondering what Eli 4.4 received this year, the highlights were pre-historic: two Pachycephalosaurus, an Ankylasaurus, a wooly Mammath, and an Iguanodon. Those were specifically on his Christmas list, and if you ever want to know the difference between Ornithiscians and Saurischians, well, just ask him. I think meeting a paleontologist at the Texas Natural History Museum last week was the highlight of his holidays.
He got the Roboraptor as well, and that enabled him to create elaborate dinosaur scenes were the Roboraptor actually moved and attacked the other dinosaurs.
Child geek heaven. That's my boy.
He also got a bike (with training wheels), and watching your son pedal on his first bike at half a mile an hour around your house is a happy, happy time.
He also got two other presents that are fully worthy of their own descriptions in this column, and that will come tomorrow.
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