name that tune...

I am playing, "Name That Tune", with Eli. It's more of a forced game with one of us being forced to play against our will! Eli starts by whistling a song, then he stops and says, " Dad, what song was that?". Because I wasn't listening closely, I missed the ever so slight tonal inflections, and thought each whistled tune sounded the same...but I was wrong ( which prolonged the game). Even when I tried...and I did try (because I was told that we couldn't stop playing until I got three correct!), I guessed incorrectly. You may not know, as I didn't either, that the differences between Jingle Bells (traditional) and Jingle Bells (Barman smells) CAN be detected by the well trained ear...the same goes for Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer (traditional) and Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer ( contemporary light bulb version). When I continued to loose, Eli suggested playing " Name That Tune" by tap dancing (rhythmically stomping loudly on the floor)...again, I missed the subtle nuances and lost the game.
I did, however, come to the realization that sometimes those things that we may see as a negative are really blessings in disguise...such as my partial deafness!

cooking with Eli...

One of Eli's favorite things to do is cook. This morning he made one of his specialties - scrambled eggs and biscuits. My mom is with us right now, (watching Eli while he is out of school for Thanksgiving break and Sherri and I work), and commented that Eli could have his own cooking show...showing other kids how to cook. Fame and fortune started running through my head in quick sprints toward glory...I could be one of those great stage dads, offering minor suggestions that would enhance viewing pleasure...but it all came to a screeching halt ( runner down, runner down!) when I heard him ask me for the iron foil to cover the eggs...

Ladies and Gentlemen, for one night only...

Last night Eli was telling me about his day at school. Apparently , at some point during the day, Eli was singing softly to himself and the other children heard him. One of the boys in the class remarked, Eli...I didn't know you could sing! Which started the whole class chanting..." Sing Eli, sing Eli, sing Eli..." I said, " well, what happened? What did you do?" He kind of shrugged and said, " I put on a concert for them!" "Wow, a concert?" ""Yep, I started singing the songs from Disney shows...like Austin and Alley" (demonstration of a medley of songs...mostly one or two lines with a lot of unintelligible words) I asked about those and he said that those were for the kids that speak Spanish. ( I sing like that all of the time and people around me make fun because I don't know the words...all this time it's been Spanish! Who knew?)
It must have been quite the show because he will be doing a Christmas lineup for his next gig at school...but I'm not allowed to go because it's just for students...

snow...snow...snow...

Ahhh, it's winter in south Louisiana. The bitter humid cold comes in for a day or a week at a time. We will be at 25°f tonight and with that Eli (like all kids down here) has started the prayers for snow.
While getting ready this morning his excitement continued to build and so did his vision of the coming wintery wonderland. Our first order of business will be building a snow fort that will protect us from the other kid's snowballs. Then we will have to make snowballs. He will show me how it's done and then I can take over while he builds some booby traps that will dump snow on unsuspecting kids and passers-by. He has come up with a genius plan to lure the prey to us...Eli's plan is to make a talking snowman that looks like Olaf from the movie Frozen. He said," Dad, it's so easy...all we need is some red, black and blue wire." I had a hard time getting a word in while details of what needed to happen to create a living snowman came one after another...and then everything got quite for what seemed like 5 seconds and then came the question in song..." Do you want to build a snowman?" How could I resist, especially now that the song is stuck in my head!
Please join me in praying that we will have a huge dumping of snow! (I don't even know if we have a chance for snow...but according to Eli, we do... And faith moves mountains or in this case, the snow from the mountains!)

home(work)...

Tonight's homework with Eli included lots of reading and comprehension questions afterward. The story was about an artist that liked to paint unusual things and in the process of self discovery he painted a painting of him painting a painting of him painting a painting of him painting a painting... You get the picture. At some point the story says the painting seemed to come alive and start painting itself....
NOW, one of the questions was: What is this passage mostly about?
A) Why Matt likes to paint
B) The relationship between Matt and the author
C) How Matt learns he has magical powers
D) How Matt puts himself into his paintings (correct)
Eli originally stopped at C and thought that would be a cool answer...he then started telling me a story about some quest that a guy was on and he too discovered that he had magic powers. In my opinion, this is not a fair question...a young boy like Eli sees the word magic and the question is no longer relevant...he's dreaming of fighting dragons and throwing fireballs from his fingers.
After drawing him back in, we come to another question.
Matt's teacher tells him to paint his studio, ______ Matt would rather paint something unusual.
A) but
B) so
C) like
D) after
I told him to pick one, to which Eli started laughing and said, "Dad, you told me to pick the but! hahahahahaha...butt, butt,butt...my butt, your butt, Ollie's butt...pick a butt.
10 minutes later we returned to the homework.
I would like to thank whoever came up with these 4th grade homework questions (not the teacher)..great job for ADD Boys.

two men enter...one man leaves...

Whilst doing spelling homework with Eli, we came to the word mimic. Eli commented that mimic means to imitate and that he can do some great imitations. My curiosity was peeked even though we had been doing homework for a couple of hours...many more than it should take...it's not really homework, but more like two great superpowers coming together in a grueling competition of wit and will with determination to break the others spirit- no matter how long it takes! Anyway, Eli goes on to say that he can say the word mimic in many different languages. Mamic, momic, mumic, mimico, he insisted that these are real words and said them with a straight face. Who knew? No need for Rosetta Stone...

Orchestral Manoeuvres...

Today Eli was packing up for school and I noticed that his bag was looking a bit fuller than normal ( much like an old world peddler, I assume...with the modern twist of zippers for easy access) so I had to check. When I opened it, he had packed our electric pencil sharpener. I asked why and he told me that his teacher's pencil sharpener had broken yesterday so he volunteered ours until it's fixed. As I kept digging down, he had packed a large Tupperware container filled with prisms for his class. I asked if we could put them in a smaller bag or something to save space, but he wouldn't hear of it...they might get squashed and break and then someone might be disappointed ( logical). At the bottom were four flattened toilet tissue rolls...flattened. I asked what they were for and he explained that they were needed for an art project and he was bringing extra in case someone forgot theirs...
I smiled and started thinking to myself how much I Iove that he thinks of others and watches out for them...(we are still working on including sisters - I'm sure that comes in time!)
My moment was gone when Eli informed me that we had to hurry and repack everything so that he wouldn't be late..."Dad", he said, " we need to hum that song that means to go faster...the one played by tubas and French horns". I told him that those weren't instruments that really sound fast in songs. He thought and then added, " oh...and violins!

design star...

Eli and I were walking around with Ollie the other evening and he noticed that Hammond is putting up Christmas decorations everywhere. He looked at me and said, "Dad, I can't wait to see how they decorate the park this year."( Hammond completely decorates one of its parks in the center of town...it just happens to be at the end of our street, also) . I said, "yep, it won't be long.". Eli looked at the decorations going up and then said, "Dad, they should ask you and I about decorating for Christmas because we know almost everything about Christmas." (I love that boy!) 
He has been fast at work designing things for our front yard...I dare say I will need to borrow my two neighbors yards as well!

maybe it was Charlton Heston...

Eli has been learning to ride a bike and has become much more confident. So this morning I decided to let Eli ride while Ollie Mae and I walked our 4miles through Hammond and partially around Southeastern. As we passed the cemetery behind the Episcopal church, Eli stopped and Noted an old above ground tomb. He asked, "Dad, do you know who is in there?" I told him that I did not. The name was on the opposite side.Eli said," I know who it is...look how old it is...it's Moses...from the Bible!"
Moses...right here in Hammond, Louisiana! I guess he parted the Atlantic also...

the things I learn from Eli...

Sunday life lessons from Eli:
Dad, boys are made in the cold.
What Eli?
Boys are made in the cold and girls are made in the heat. It's true. I was cold when I was in mom's stomach...oh, and salt water crocodiles bury their boy eggs in cold sand.
Oh and dad...we need to start stocking up for hurricanes.
Hurricane season is almost over for us. The weather is getting colder and hurricanes can't form in the cold.
But killer whales and blue whales can make them.
What?? How can whales make hurricanes?
They suck in cold water from the ocean when they eat fish and then it warms up in their stomachs because the fish are food and food makes energy and energy makes heat and that's how they put out warm water. That's what happens in Mexico, South America and Australia...
That's not really how it works Eli...
Oh, really...Dad, there are a lot of whales out there.
(Pause while his two nephews get in the car)
Poppy, our fish Mr Darby died.
Oh, I'm so sorry. I'll get you a new one...how 'bout that?
Dad, you should get an electric eel. You can power your whole house on just one eel. They have special tanks with wires wrapped around them and they go out into your house. They have them for cars also. You won't ever have to buy gas again; but you have to get the right kind of eel...they have water eels also that spit out water and ink but they don't have any electrical power...
I'm not sure if Al Gore knows that mankind is NOT the problem to global warming, it's those darn whales...but with eel power we can combat (and I dare say, reverse) global warming!
This has been an Eli public service announcement...