There's a New Kid in Town

Most of you have probably heard of "The Elf on the Shelf." I had heard of it and was pretty skeptical about the "powers" my friends claimed it had over their children. After it became available locally, I decided to give it a try. At this point, I'm a sucker for anything that promises good behavior! For those of you who don't know about the elf, here is a quick summary. There is a book that you buy and read to your child. It is written by the elf and tells the child that he or she will come to your house while he is asleep and will be hiding somewhere. When the child awakes, he is to hurry and find the elf and give it a name. The child is permitted to talk to the elf, but it cannot be touched. The elf promises to watch the child all day, and then when the child is asleep, it goes to the North Pole to report to Santa on the child's behavior that day. It will come back and find a new hiding place by the time the child gets up again.

I read the book to Lee on November 30th, hoping the elf would come for his first visit on December 1st. Lee was both scared and excited when we read the book. I couldn't wait to see his reaction. He wanted to read the book numerous times to make sure he understood the rules. When I woke him up for school, he immediately remembered that the elf might have come and that he was to give him a name. So he searched the house and found him within minutes. Before I could remind him, he got down in the elf's face and said, "Hello elf, your name is Jesse...you know, from Toy Story." It was precious. He remembered the rules and didn't touch or move him. There have been a couple of instances where I have reminded him that Jesse is watching his behavior, and he has made better choices. I don't know if it will last till Christmas, but I'm pretty happy with the first 2 days' results.

On a side note: I don't know what has started Lee's fascination with Toy Story, but he named his elf, Jesse and his baby brother, Andy. What is even funnier is our dog's name is Buzz. He got his name from Alex, when he was about Lee's age. And we call my stepdad, Woody, because when he and my mom were dating, I told her he looked like Sheriff Woody, and it just stuck. I guess we're just a Toy Story family!