Elliot and I went to Shabbat services today at the Lone Tree synagogue (Chabad Jewish Center of South Metro Denver). He really enjoyed it this time. He stayed with me for the service, helped to put away the Torah, ate brunch, and played with Libby and the other children.

But the best part was that my new friend, Zev, said to me at brunch, “Elliot is probably the nicest boy I’ve ever met. Earlier I held the door for him. He turned to me and said, ‘Thank you’. Most adults don’t even do that.”

After a bedtime story about the Pizza Kittens, Color Kittens (Hush and Brush), Huggy Wuggy, Siren Head, Elliot and Daddy sledding together at the sledding hill next to the school, I told Elliot what Zev said about him. He repeated how a man had held the door for him. So he understood the story. But that’s all he said. “See? I’m not the only one who thinks you are a good boy. I’m very proud of you!” If the lights had been on, I could have seen his beaming face.

Elliot insists on cutting a “flower” for me – a brown, dead, thorny thing – before we drive to Shabbat services. I add it to my dashboard of other flowers he’s cut over the months, including Summer and Fall.