Keep 'em crossed

The other day, Elijah and I were pondering the significance of our friend Zach's newest hand gesture, crossed fingers, which he has recently added to his repertoire. It is something he does quite frequently, and it doesn't seem to be just a random act. Elijah is convinced that Zach is hoping for something specific and I think he is absolutely right. It seems Zach is usually in deep deliberate thought at every crossing: about what, though, I cannot quite put my finger on. Let's see if we can shed some light on the mystery.

Since Elijah made up the game, I will give his impression of the meaning behind the symbol first. He believes that Zach is hoping to avoid getting hurt when climbing things. His hypothesis does make a lot of sense especially considering Zach hasn't been getting hurt nearly as much lately, and we all know how reliable a good luck talisman crossed fingers can be. 

My guess is that he is hoping that Santa's surveillance team is out on a coffee break whenever he has something mischievous planned; it seems every time I see him tossing wooden blocks over the baby gate to the dog, as sure as taxes, his fingers are crossed. Silly Zach...don't you know Santa never takes breaks?

Nadine is convinced Zach is hoping for more green vegetables with lunch. I'm only kidding. I made that one up. Nadine is smart enough to know any wishing done by Zach involving green vegetables deals exclusively with peas. Any over-generalization of "greens" above and beyond that would just be absurd.

Amelia believes that it is merely a quirky anomaly lending itself to a predisposed motion through his motor neuron routing resulting in the formation of just a simple bodily habit and has direct correlation to an excited emotional state; much like young children clapping their hands or swinging their arms when they are happy. Amelia is such a card... ha ha, kids say the cutest things, don't they? 

In reality, though, the explanation which makes the most sense is of Zach hoping that when he enrolls in his new class on February 16th, Amelia and he will continue to remain the best of friends. 

.