Will wonders never cease?

After months and months of arguing, threats, tears and slammed doors, something we said snuck into Elliott's waxy ears and laid some juicy eggs in his previously thought to be pea-sized brain. Here's what happened this morning:

Elliott: Do we have any duo-tangs?
Me: Yes, in the top drawer. (trying and failing to resist asking why he needs one) Why?
Elliott: It's for my assignment.
Me (heart sinking): What assignment?
Elliott: I had a project on muscle powered tools and I finished it. It needs to be in a folder.
Me: So it's done? When did you do it? When was it due? (note the still skeptical "was" assuming the due date has passed as usual.)
Elliott: All finished. I woke up every morning over the holiday and did a bit of it. It's not due until Friday but Mr. M said that if we hand it in early he can check it and give it back to fix if there's anything wrong with it.
Me (in complete shock, flipping through the pages filled with well laid out photos and text): So it's all done? How did you know what to do?
Elliott: Mr. M wrote all the stuff on the board and I just copied it. Thanks for the duo-tang.
Me (completely stunned): No problem...

I'm still flabbergasted by all this. Is it possible that we've completely brow-beaten the lazy slacker teen out of him? I don't care what switch flipped in his head. It may not last but I still couldn't stop hugging him all morning.

*** Besides the above (totally, amazingly, magically, fantastically awesome), remember birthday parties when we were kids that took place in the basement at McDonalds? Where you got a tour of the kitchen before getting herded into a windowless basement euphemistically called "McDonaldland" and decorated with crappy, unlicensed images of Grimace and Hamburglar? And the cold small fries, cheeseburger and warm orange drink you happily devoured? Remember those parties? "RobbleRobble" = AWESOME! ***


kxx