Elliot thinks that whenever we order something online, it arrives in the mailbox immediately. It is adorable.

He calls all mail “email”. There is no difference between the two: he’s a real child of the digital age.

The other day, we ordered a shark tooth necklace for him from Etsy. Well of course no amount of persuasion could convince him the necklace wouldn’t be there, and I did not try too hard anyway because I’ve tried before.

So we put on our snow boots and walked down the street to the mailbox. He insisted on walking, I think, so that he could look up into the mailbox himself rather than be tied down in his car seat.

I opened the box with the key and took out the mail, showing him no shark tooth necklace. The he said something new, “what about 7?” He meant box #7. He wanted me to open another mailbox. “That’s not our box. That’s someone else’s.”

Elliot wasn’t upset; I’d already set his expectations, but he had to see for himself. A harbinger of the future. The best learning is done through one own’s experience. No parents’ teaching is as valuable.