A chip off the old block

Yesterday I took the boys to the park and Eliot had a piece of raisin bread that he was munching on and took with him onto the playground.  Somewhere in all the running around the bread ended up on the ground, covered in sand.  Some other boy found it and put it beneath a slide as part of a game he was playing.  Eliot noticed this, recognized his slice of bread, and retrieved it.  The other boy, who was clearly a couple years older than Eliot, demanded that Eliot return his 'toast', saying that it was baking in the oven.  Sitting off to the side with Peter in the shade, I held back to see how Eliot would handle the situation.  Eliot regarded him for a moment and then said, "No, toast was not in the oven, toast was in the toaster, it's my toast."  This astonished the older boy, who I think wasn't expecting a response.  He made some kind of roaring sound that was meant to intimidate, to which Eliot responded, "This is 'redicoolus', stop right now".  At this point I took the grin off my face and intervened, as the situation seemed to be escalating.  I asked the boy's name and introduced him to Eliot (I find that Eliot cooperates more when the other child isn't such a stranger to him).  The nasty, sand encrusted bread was forgotten and they both went on with their play.  It just made me smile.  From my own experiences with Eliot I know he's no push-over.  It was just kind of funny to watch him in action.  He still has a lot to learn about diplomacy and sharing but I'm glad that he's not afraid to stand up for himself and that his first instinct was to use words rather than fists :)