Elliott, 4 Year Old Man in Charge

This is Elliott. James Elliott Notrica, to be exact.

Here are some facts about Elliott:

He is 4.

He is brilliant.

He never stops talking.
I'm not kidding.

He lives at GTE with his mom, Laura, who works in the kitchen with us, which means Elliott is in the kitchen, too.

He is a riot of gargantuan proportion.

He makes me laugh daily.

He is obsessed with Chef Boy and thinks he is "the Man". It's sickening.

Often, in the heat of dinner prep, Elliott collects kitchen things and creates elaborate events. Sometimes it's a cooking show, sometimes a magic show, sometimes it's packing for a trip. Last night he asked me if he could get back to camp from the place he was going. I told him I would need to know where he was going. He said he was packing up for Mexico, India, Kansas, and Italy. I told him if he had snow shoes, a gondola, and a hot air balloon he could probably make it back to camp from those places he was going. He assured me he would add those items to his baggie full of water he already had packed.

Elliott refers to Chef Boy by his first and last names all the time. It is hilarious. He also jokingly calls Curly Locks Man Child, then laughs hysterically. He says I'm a good cook, but I'm also a bad guy that he has to stop with his super powers, wielding a slotted spoon.

Most mornings, his mom shows up in the kitchen and he stays asleep for a while longer. When he shows up, it is in various states of dress. My favorite is the dinosaur pajamas with cowboy boots. One that gives Chef Boy a chuckle is the classic shorts and cowboy boots.

One day, Laura was telling me how she needed to shop for Elliott because he had grown out of a lot of his clothes, especially pants. Elliott chimed in that he was really growing- his arms were growing... Laura explained that usually pants are determined by your legs and waist. Elliott assured her that also, his penis was growing really big, too.

Another day, although I missed it, he held up his shirt declaring, "Here are my boobies."

He is so intelligent, it is amazing. You can almost see all the thoughts and ideas converging in his brain. He is learning Spanish, and told me I was a Madre.
Saying goodnight takes about 40 minutes, as he just has A LOT to say!

It's been so fun having him here.

They stayed with us on their way out to CO for one night. Elliott had apparently heard about Chef Boy from his Uncle, who is the director of GTE. Well, the love affair started then. Many of you may remember him as he tagged along to the Smiths for the Memorial Day party.

Tomorrow will surely bring another humorous and lovely Elliott moment. I'll be sure to share.