New Rollerblades

Elliot has been asking for rollerblades almost daily for the last few weeks. I finally took him to Target yesterday and bought him a pair. I know that rollerblading and ice skating are very similar, but it was still amazing to see Elliot buckle on the skates and take off. He put them on at the store, and wore them home. He barely took them off during the remainder of the day. He even wore them to the park in the afternoon, and skated around the tot lot instead of playing. I was beginning to worry that he would ask to sleep in them, but he seemed to have had his fill by bedtime. Here he is a few minutes after heading out the door. I can't help but picture a Sonic carhop job somewhere in his future...

Cwms [kooms]

We visited my parents this past weekend. The boys took advantage of every opportunity to play with their game-loving grandfather. Yesterday, Elliot played "Spill and Spell" with Pop Pop. I was playing with the other boys across the room, but heard Pop Pop say, with a chuckle, "Now that definitely is not a word." Elliot insisted that it was. Jack, hearing all of this as well, ran over the table to offer his "official" verdict. Jack took one look at the letter dice, and confidently declared that Elliot was right. The word in question was "cwms". Neither Pop Pop nor I recognized the word. So, how did Elliot and Jack both know it? Computer Scrabble. They have both spent hours playing against the computer, and have learned dozens of unusual 2, 3 and 4 letter words. They can't pronounce them, or tell you what they mean, but they know they are words (according to the official Scrabble dictionary at least!) Watch out, should you decide to play against them. And, certainly, don't challenge their words!