Hugging like a lady
Apr 14, 2009 A day in our life
Because I’m a mean mommy, I made the kids play outside today. It was a beautiful day out and it’s time for them to peel themselves away from the TV and get a little exercise outdoors. From the grumbling sounds and the constant “can we come in yet?” you would’ve thought I was torturing them. Poor things were forced to play outside in the warm weather. Call DHS.
After a while they met up with a neighbor kid and went to play in her yard. I didn’t see them for over an hour. All was good.
Around 7pm Caleb peeked in the back door and asked, “Mama, have we been outside long enough now? Can we come back in?” I finally gave in and let them come in to get their TV fix before dinner.
Caleb started telling me the neighbor they were playing with.
“I made a new friend Mama,” he said.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. She lives in the next block [which is actually just across our alley]. We were playing in her yard.”
“That sounds fun. What’s her name?” I asked.
“Um…darn it. I can never remember her name.”
He really is bad about (1) asking people what their name is and (2) remembering their name after he’s told. He had a substitute teacher for two weeks (his regular teacher is on maternity leave) before he could finally tell me what her name is.
He continued, “…she keeps telling me her name, but I forget. I just call her ‘lady.’”
He cracks me up. I can just see him chasing around this 7-year-old girl and calling her “lady.”
“But we did give hugs when I left,” he said. “And she lifted her leg.”
Confused, I asked, “Lifted her leg?” I was envisioning her lifting her leg like a dog peeing on a tree. Clearly I know nothing about being lady-like because…
“Yeah, like this,” Caleb said as he bent his leg at the knee, with his ankle up towards his butt…like ladies in the old movies who lift one leg when kissing their sweetheart. Too cute!
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Tags: hugging, new friends, playing outside
April 16th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Hooray for making them play outside! I wish more moms did that! Great writing style. Thanks for a good laugh…love the leg lifting images!
April 17th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
I love it! We used to be made to play outside all the time when my sibling and I were younger. TV was a privilege and absolutely no gaming systems were in our house! We climbed trees, played hide and seek, and hung around all the other kids that were home. Kids these days are too coddled and never experience the fun of the outdoors.
At least he will never have a fight with his new friend!
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April 19th, 2009 at 12:15 am
That is too cute!! I love the playing outside bit too, that is so true!
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April 21st, 2009 at 8:14 am
My son, too, is bad with names. When he meets someone new on the playground, he addresses them as ‘boy’ or ‘girl’. Sometimes prefixed with ‘big’ or ‘little’. Sometimes suffixed with ‘in the blue shirt’.
The other day, he was playing with a black child and kept calling him ‘boy’. I saw his grandfather (at least he looked too old to be daddy) cringe every time my son said ‘hey, boy’ at his kid.
I walked over to him and sat down we made small talk for a while then I addressed the elephant… ‘Malcolm doesn’t understand that calling your son ‘boy’ might be offensive. I’m not sure I want him to know. He calls all boys his age ‘boy’ until he learns their name. Right now, he just thinks everyone is the same. What do you think?’
He seemed happy to talk. He, too, didn’t want to weigh his grandson down with too much cultural baggage. There is a fine line between learning about your culture and being buried by the past.
Grandfather allowed that the world was a much different place now than when he was a five-year-old. He wouldn’t have been allowed in this neighborhood, let alone on a playground with the white kids.
One of these days, his grandson will ask about the past and he said he would tell him all that he could remember. Until then, he is just going to let him be a baggage-free kid.
As For Outside Play…
We have a big, shaded sandbox in the backyard. If I give the kid a hose and let him strip naked, he’ll play out there for hours uninterrupted.
—Matt
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