You so embarrassed me

Last Friday I was walking home from Expo with Theo, Eli, and cousin Espen. We walked past a neighbor who was waiting at a bus stop for her children to come home from school. She asked if we were having a fun Friday playdate with a friend. I said that we wished we could, but we were just delivering Espen to his parents. Then I mentioned that he was a cousin. Eli had walked ahead quickly and when I caught up to him he said, "You just SO embarrassed me Mom!" I had no clue, none, of what the offense might have been. This was the first time he had ever told me that I had done this to him and I was furiously backtracking through my memory of the event to find the offensive moment. He then did a little imitation of my introduction of Espen as a cousin. In HIS mind I had been quite theatrical and had spread my arms and enunciated cousin in several (completely embarrassing) ways. For the record, this is not my memory of my behavior! He quickly was laughing and over the issue, but I see where this is going. The days when we are warmly received in his classroom as volunteers may be nearing an end. In fact, yesterday, Jon secretly signed up to be a classroom reader in Eli's class. Jon was sitting in the reading chair when the class came back from science and initially Eli's eyes bugged out and he looked delighted. Then Jon read the story and answered questions. After several kids had their chance to ask something, Eli put his hand up and Jon called on him. Eli's question? "Um, do you think I could go to the bathroom? This is getting kind of long and we need to get to snack soon..." So that ended that! Really, he remains as sweet and as endearing as ever, but I think the veneer he has put on us is starting to crack just a little. Shoot.