1 Brest a Week: Elliott

If you haven't read Amy's blog recently(you should as she has some wonderful insights into the minds of her children) we have a ranking structure in our family that is completely unnecessary. However, it kind of describes us as a family. So, in honor of this ranking structure I have decided to dedicate one blog a week to each sibling in my family. If I have success with these blogs then I may go into nieces and nephews and maybe the in-laws will even get a shout out! So this week will be for the youngest in our family, Elliott.
When we were all still fairly young, and Elliott was still new to the family(he was about 2 or 3), the whole family was taking a trip down to Texas to visit Grandparents for a week. We stopped at a small gas station because EVERYONE had to go to the bathroom so we all jumped out of the white rental van as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. Elliott, being the smallest, was the last one out so he would have had to wait the longest in the line to the porcelain throne. As we all finished using the restroom and got our snacks paid for by Mom and Dad, we all came out of the gas station, Mom and Dad behind us, and we almost all froze in our tracks. As Mom and Dad came out they did the same. There in front of us was Elliott, putting into practice what he had learn to do as though he were standing in front of a toilet and not a cement sidewalk. He had his pants and underwear pulled down to his ankles with his bare bottom exposed to ongoing traffic he was going to the bathroom all over the sidewalk as casually as though he should get a pat on the back for it. After we all stared at him in astonished amusement for a second or two, Mom quickly walked over to him, pulled up his pants and proceeded to give him the spanking of a life time. The rest of us just laughed because it was hilarious. After Mom spanked him a bit she put him back in the van and turned around to get back into her seat and I saw a small impression of a smile on her face. It was that funny. And that was the only time Elliott ever got spanked...in his life! That's right folks, of all the spankings that have been dealt out by the fury of Mom's wooden spoon or the wrath of Dad's homemade paddle(he had to make a new one because he broke the store bought one on Chris, that story in a couple weeks!) not a single one hand been dealt to Elliott. Guess what else Elliott has never had to do: finish a meal. I like to visit Mom and Dad on occasion and sometimes I stay overnight. Mom will make dinner and as she has begun eating in a more healthy way recently, they eat a lot of vegetables, rice, and chicken or fish. On one occasion Elliott asked what we were having for dinner and Mom said it was steamed vegetables, and fish. This is how the conversation went:
Elliott: What are we having for dinner?
Mom: Steamed vegetables and fish.
Elliott: Anything else?
Mom: No, why? Do you not want that?
Elliott: Not really.
Mom: Ok, what would you like me to make you?

Now, here is a conversation that I distinctly remember between Mom and Katie a long time ago before Elliott was here:

Katie: I don't want to eat these beans!
Mom: Be quiet and finish your plate. You are going to sit there until you finish.
Katie: I'm not hungry anymore!
Mom: Well then I'll put your plate in the fridge and you can eat it for breakfast.
Next Morning...
Katie: I don't want to eat beans for breakfast!
Mom: You have to because you didn't finish them from dinner last night.
Katie: How come ben gets to eat cereal and I have to eat beans?
Mom: Because Ben is a good little boy who finishes everything on his plate and someday he will grow up to be an awesome person who will be famous and you and all your siblings will ask him for favors and he will grant them but only because he is caring and merciful and all you are going to do is make buttons!
Katie:...I don't wanna eat beans!

So you get the picture. Elliott has life a lot sweeter than the rest of us did. Mom and Dad say they found a better way to raise children and they didn't figure it out until they got to Elliott. Right...So that's all there is to know about Elliott. Tune in next week to learn about our brother who is not related by blood!
Ben