Madeline

Just a quick thank you to everyone who's congratulated me on Facebook and on Twitter and, you know, in person. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, well, I'm talking about this cutie (the one on  the left):

As Much As I Want to Be My Boy's Buddy...

While some things give us reasons to argue, some things have been instinctively clear to both of us.

For example, while we disagree on the best way to deal with our 2-year-old boy when he throws food off the table, we didn't have to agree never to call each other Mom and Dad. It has been clear from the beginning.

Maybe it's because we share the feeling that our identities beyond Parent must be maintained, or maybe it just doesn't sound good to us. But there's just never been a question. Never been a discussion. Never an argument. We WILL NOT call each other "Mom" and "Dad."

But now that he's started referring to both of us as "Honey"... Well...

My Red Line

I took my boy to a friend of mine who has a 7-year-old girl. I don't know if all 7-year-old girls look at a 2-year-old boy as if he's a fun cabbage patch toy, but this one did. Her mom asked her to bring out some of her toys, so she ran upstairs and came back with her arms full.

When she gave my boy some cars to play with, I was happy.

When she gave him some ribbons to put in his hair, I thought, "This could be a learning experience."

When she gave him a toy brush to use on her unicorns, I thought, "Why Not?"

When she asked him how he'd like to dress her barbies, I thought, "Well, he looks like he's having fun."

But when she took his hand, walked him to the kitchen, pointed at her collection of mermaid fridge magnets, and asked, "Which mermaid would you like to be?" I dragged him back to the toy cars.