Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Man, Woman or Ballerina

My son has deemed himself a gender expert, a fashion expert, and a healer.

At Wawa today, in a very loud voice, he questioned the gender of the clerk. "Is that a man?" "No", I whispered to him with my back to the clerk. "Yes, that is a man", he responded way too loudly. I tried to shake my head no, as unobviously as possible. He wasn't taking that answer lightly, and kept insisting that the clerk was a man on the way out. Loudly insisting. The sad thing was that this woman was not masculine. She was an African-American woman, with a short, sylishly cut gray hair. She wore glasses and the standard Wawa t-shirt. She looked like a woman.

As we arrive home, my neighbor is returning home after a swim in the pool. She's carrying her beach bag, wearing her little sun hat, and the blue swimsuit that Ethan has seen her in multiple times, and has previously questioned her about. However, he inists on reminding her that she's wearing what everyone calls "the fat girl suit", and he tells her in his smurfish voice, "Cathie, that is not a swimming bathing suit, that is a ballerina dress. You cannot wear that in the water. That is for ballerinas. Why are you wearing that dress in the water? You cannot do that. That is wrong, Cathie."

Ugh, he's such a joy in public.

Adam is still out of commission. The back thing continues to wear on, and Ethan knows that Adam is limited because of it. The other day I told him that Daddy couldn't take him to the movies because he can't sit in the theater. Earlier this evening he comes into the kitchen and tells me that Daddy can take him to the movies now. I asked why, and he explained that he rubbed Daddy's tummy, and that now his back and legs don't hurt anymore. Sad and sweet. Even sadder that the movie he's trying to get Adam to take him to is Shrek 3. Has it even been made yet?

And then there are the wonderful things he says. He came home from school D-I-R-T-Y today. I mean filthy dirty! When I asked him how he got so dirty he explained, "We played outside today. I got very dirty. But that's OK. When you get really dirty, it means you had lots of fun. I had fun today Mommy."

I smiled. Once again, he made me smile. Gotta love him.

dena at 7:15 PM

5comments

5 Comments

at 9:29 PM soapbox.SUPERSTAR said...: Kaiden was filthy too. Shrek 3? I think that is supposed to be out in 2007 or something.
at 10:24 PM Anonymous said...: I have to agree with him. When I'm really dirty I feel a childlike sense of accomplishment. I feel like I have really had fun.

That picture is so funny!
at 10:45 PM LITTLE MISS said...: I'm waiting for the moment my children realize there ARE people of a different race, gender, sex, and weight out there...heaven help us because I wouldn't know WHAT to say!
at 1:20 PM Anonymous said...: What a cutie! Gotta love his reasoning! I'm dirty cause I had fun! LOL
at 5:28 PM Anonymous said...: snigger.

Kids just tell it like it is, and say the thing we want to.

A friends daughter once stared open mouthed at a black guy on the train and said, repeatedly, "But he's brown, Mummy! Why is he that colour?".

Two things:

1) my god, I/we live in a ethnically un-mixed area when a four year old girl has never seen a black face.
2) HA HA HA HA!

The black fella was apparently very nice about it.

About

Joyously roaming through life. Meeting its topographical challenges, and facing each with a sarcastic wit, and an impetuous need to face even more bumps, dips, pits and peaks. How the hell else did I end up with a 22 year old, a 20 year old and a 4 year old?