To be honest, I'd never heard of The Elf on the Shelf until I was introduced to Pinterest last year, but the Elf is all over Pinterest, and it piqued my curiosity.
I decided that it might help with some behavior issues leading up to Christmas, and I thought it would be fun to set up our elf each night for the children to find the next morning.
On November 26th, we introduced Jack to our Elf on the Shelf, and Oliver came to be part of our household. Jack loves to find out where he'll be each morning. Hannah isn't really too aware of his existence.
A few things I've noticed thus far:
- it's tricky to find a month full of places to creatively hide an elf in which little ones can't reach, and therefore won't be tempted to touch, said Elf
- it's tricky to remember to move said Elf each night before I fall asleep out of sheer exhaustion
- it's tricky to ensure that a bright little boy believes his Elf is real
The other night, we tucked Jack into bed, and then before I got ready for bed, I decided to move Oliver so that I wouldn't forget.
Because once I've literally had to race downstairs ahead of Jack, toss Oliver across the room, and hope he landed some place great. It worked!
Another time, we had to tell Jack that Oliver must have fallen asleep because he's so tired from making so many toys and that was why he remained in the same spot for two days. Being an Elf is hard work.
Alright - so back to the other night. I wanted Oliver to have some fun with Jack's toy cars, and I was beginning to set Oliver up on the banister with the cars when Jack came out of his bedroom announcing he had to go potty. In my hands were toy cars, and Oliver was sitting happily on the banister with Lightning McQueen. So what else could I do?
I said, "Oh my goodness, that silly Oliver is making a mess with all of these cars. What is he doing?" And I set everything down and helped get Jack back to bed. I thought I'd wait awhile before moving Oliver again. Clearly, he could not stay on the banister with the cars.
About half an hour later, I took Oliver downstairs with me and decided he could color. As I made my way to the kitchen, I heard Jack moving around upstairs again. He called down, "Mommy, Oliver's not there anymore! Where did he go?"
"Hmm...I don't know. He must have gone to the North Pole. We'll have to look for him in the morning."
Obviously, Jack was continually getting out of bed to check on Oliver's status. This was my first clue that he might not be buying the Elf story.
The next morning, Jack found Oliver happily coloring a picture of an elf, not necessarily to Jack's liking. He didn't love Oliver's color choices, but he seemed pleased with Oliver using his crayons and coloring books.
But...
when we sat down to dinner later that night, I noticed that the feather in the elf's hat was colored red. And I knew that I hadn't colored the feather. (Go ahead - go back and check the picture again.) I decided not to say anything.
We started to eat, and that, my friends...
...is when Jack said, "Oh my goodness, Mommy! Look at that feather - Oliver must have just colored that feather because it wasn't like that this afternoon. He's doing such a good job coloring!"
And what could I say?
"Wow! That silly Oliver. He really is doing such a nice job!"
*****
I told Brad this story later that night, and we just about died laughing. He's playing my own game, and I'm pretty sure he's winning. Oh, how I love that smart, little man of ours!
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