Stranger Danger

Eli has "stranger danger" down pat! It has come to him naturally - whenever ANYONE says "hi" to him that he is not sure about, he SCREAMS bloody murder. What a great survival skill... it just gets a little old when he keeps screaming at the SAME people that we see every week at story time, or at church. At least I *thought* it was annoying... until today.....

I had the kids at church by myself again. A young man in our ward came and sat in front of us in Sacrament Meeting, and he happens to be a little obsessed with my kids - to the point that it makes me a little uncomfortable. I'm polite, but I usually try to dodge his attention. Today he kept turning around in his seat and practically hanging over the bench to touch Owen and try to hi-five Eli. Eli steered clear for a while, but it was still really distracting to have this guy in my "space" and touching my baby ... just when I was starting to get really annoyed with the situation, Eli saved the day. He suddenly scoots next to me, puts his hand on Owen, and looks right at this kid.... and yells "NO!!! E-I's! Mommy's Owen!" The kid gave us a wide-eyed look and turned back around in his seat. He didn't bother us the rest of the meeting - way to go Eli! He's Mr. Protective these days =).