And He's in the Race Afterall

Olive loves racing me to get dressed in the morning and afterwards will parade around the house saying, "I beat you! I beat you!"

I usually let her win but the other day I chose to get dressed quickly and when she saw me dressed she said: "Now we are both beaters!"

Elias doesn't participate in our races and tends to sit on his chair in his room, swinging his legs in his fleece firetruck jammies, content to wait me out till I finally help him. He rarely plays in his room by himself unless I ask him to get dressed, then I'll find him on his rug with his Play-mobile RV. He'll lie on the floor and look at a book. Line his cars up on his mats. Anything but actually follow directions and change his clothes.

Olive loves taunting him too. "I beat you Elias! I beat you!'

"No you didn't!" he'll say, his immediate reaction to all her claims. If she says yes he'll say no, if she says no he'll say yes, and they'll continue this argument with no memory of the original question until Nick or I intervene.

The other night, Nick had to work late and the kids and I were finishing the oh-so-exotic quesadilla dinner I made us when Elias said, "Is it almost time to get into PJ's."

I looked at the clock. 6:40. "Not yet but soon."

Elias got up from the table and practically ran to his room.

A minute or so later I heard, "Mom! Mom!" I found him half-naked and struggling to get his shirt off his broad shoulders. 

"Nice work Bud!" I said, as I pulled his shirt off his head, surprised that he initiated this change all on his own instead of us dueling over it in an hour or so.

I left him to finish the job and returned to the kitchen where I sat down next to Olive and squinted in the bright evening sun. Elias soon joined us with a wide impish smile, walked right up to Olive, leaned towards her face and said: "I beat you Olive!"

Happy Friday All!

Comments

[Kate]

Love it! A little competitive streak emerges. Where dos he get that ;)

[danielle in zurich]

What a wonderful & clever and appropriate response to the unbearable situation of being BEATEN by a little sister. Way to go, Elias!