OPERATION

When I dropped Eli off at school the other day, his teacher told me that they were making Christmas Wish Lists by cutting pictures of the toys that the kids want for Christmas out of toy catalogs.  I laughed and thought to myself how Eli's page was sure to be a mosaic of every toy imaginable.

When he got home, I was very surprised to open up the supersized piece of construction paper to find not 25 different items like I'd imagined but, instead, only 3 little images gluesticked to the paper.  Each one was a surprise to me at first, since he's never mentioned any of the three.  But, after a second glance, they all made perfect sense.

Eli's Christmas Wish List

1.  Angry Birds - not because he really understands a thing about those birds but because his bubba is crazy over them.  That alone makes them tops in Eli's book.

2.  Monopoly - this is what we call the "grown up game".  He's gotten it out of the game closet many times and asked, "Mommy, peas play a game with me?"  I always say, "Eli, that's a grown up game.  Let's pick another one."  I'm not sure if this wish list selection signifies his desire to be a big boy, his desire to play a game with mommy or a little of both.

3.  Operation - {melt my heart} he knows his bubba broke his legs, was in the hospital and now has to stay in the bed.  Knowing the hero status that he places on his bubba, I think this is his little way of showing his concern.


After showing Jason the list and laughing over it, I went to the game closet and pulled out, not Monopoly, but Operation instead.  A benefit of being a little brother means that big brother already has most of the toys you'll ever want.  Not knowing we already had this game, Eli gets wide-eyed, lets out a little giggle and whispers, "Operation!"

We take turns trying to fish those little pieces out and Eli erupts into giggles every time I get startled after touching the side.  When it's his turn, he says that it 'cares him and says, "Mommy, you do it for me?" 

Never wanting to miss a good photo op, I pull out my camera and snap away as he finally works up the courage to operate.  With the nose lit up, the game vibrating and the little pieces rattling the entire time, he starts to fish out parts all by himself.  And, you can see from the pictures that he wasn't 'cared a bit!

This is what I'd hoped recovery would look like.  It's not always this quaint but it is allowing us moments of togetherness just like this one that we normally don't make enough time for.  Such a blessing.

We just happened to have this Operation shirt. Eli had picked it out for his daddy

to wear to his circus birthday party because he says, "It have a clown nose." 

Jacob declared that the winner got to wear it.  Of course, it was after he'd already won :)