Elephant the Elf

I discovered Elf on the Shelf this year. And as we were in the deep throws of the Wolny Potty Training Mind Games, I was willing to try anything to win the potty training war. And it's kind of fun. So I went ahead and picked up an Elf. He came with a book to explain his story which is basically he is an elf that watches over your house for Santa. The elf hangs out around the house all day and keeps track if you are good or bad and make good decisions or bad decisions. He is magical, so he also knows if you are behaving at daycare, in the car, at church, at the library and at the store. He's one awesome elf. And then at night, while you are sleeping, he magically flies back to the North Pole to report back to Santa your behavior for the day. He then returns before you wake up and sits/hides in a different place each day. But you can't touch the elf or he will lose is magically powers and then how will Santa know if you have been bad or good?!

Once the elf appears at your house, you must name him. So I asked Ben what we should name him and he said Elephant (we had just gone to the zoo that day...). Sometimes I think he calls him Batman or something else. But Ben gets very excited when he finds Elephant in the morning or sometimes he forgets and doesn't find him until the evening. And when Ben pooped on the potty, he, all on his own, went straight over to Elephant and told him what he did so he could tell Santa (because Santa does not visit boys who don't poop on the potty). Ben sometimes has to be reminded to use his listening ears because he doesn't want Elephant to take a bad report back to Santa. Ben might be terrified of Santa in person, but he is all about Elephant the Elf! I have been gathering some intel on other elves out there and their crazy shenanigans, so maybe our elf will be a bit more fun and creative next year when Ben will probably be a bit more into it, along with Nick.