too bad he's so shy

Given my shy and/or anti-social nature, sometimes I'm amazed at how social the little man can be. I can almost always count on him to strike up a conversation with the cashier when we're shopping. He usually opens with, "Hi, my name's Elian!"

Yesterday we were at the park. He was climbing on this structure with a little girl. The little girl's mother was nearby and Elian said, "Mama, can I tell her something?" Not sure if he was talking about the little girl or the mother, and not sure what exactly he wanted to tell her, I hesitated and answered, "Sure." Here's what happened next:

ELIAN: (talking to the mom) Hey, I want to tell you something!

ME: (Getting a wee bit nervous about what's to come.)

THE MOM: Okay.

ELIAN: One time when I got THREE rubber balls when I put a quarter in a rubber-ball machine.

THE MOM: Wow, that sounds like it was a lucky day.

ELIAN: Yeah, and I even got some ICE CREAM!

ME: (Wiping my brow on the inside.)


The miracle of the three rubber balls happened about a month or so ago when Elian and I took the car to get an oil change. The place had given us a coupon for a free ice cream across the street. So we went and got one while we waited. I'm not sure if he had been thinking about that while he was climbing on the structure and just had to tell someone. Or, if he just had to tell this woman something and that's the first thing he thought of. Whatever. It was funny.