Wednesday – Peculiar People
Jun. 25th, 2008 03:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninanevermore.
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Today on my drive into work, I was thinking that 3 year olds are peculiar people, and that I'm not the only one to have noticed this.
Back in March when I attended the Democratic Party convention in my county, one of the other delegates from my district was Alex. He was a tall, lean, soft spoken black guy with a 17-year-old daughter about to graduate high school. He showed off a picture of her in her prom dress, and we other delegates ooh-ed and ahh-ed over how pretty she was. The other two women delegates each had teenagers as well. I was the only one who still had a toddler at home. I had just called my father's house to check on my son, and learned that he had thrown a little tantrum because he wanted to go outside, but could not because when I had packed him up in the car that morning still in his pajamas, I forgot to bring his shoes. He had his socks on, but would not take them off.
"Three year olds are peculiar people," I told my fellow delegates.
"They sure are," Alex said, and told a story about his daughter at that age that his teenaged princess would probably be embarrassed to know he was sharing with a bunch of strangers. One Sunday morning when his daughter was 3, his wife had to work and Alex was put in charge of taking both their children to church.
"So I got my daughter all dressed up in her little dress," he said, "and I got her pretty little shoes on her, I got her hair done, and then when we were ready to go, she said, 'Daddy, I need to go pee pee.' Now, she was potty trained, so I asked her if she needed any help, and she said no. I took her to the bathroom and then left her in there to go do what she needed to do. After awhile she came out and told me she was done, so we went to church.
"When we got there I dropped her off in the nursery, and the ladies took her, and she didn't say anything. Then after church, I picked her up and they handed her back to me, and nobody said anything to me. Then I took her home, and my wife was there. I was all proud of myself for doing everything right and not messing anything up. You know, getting the kids to church and all, having them all dressed and looking nice like they should.
"So my daughter walks over to my wife and say, 'Mommy, look! Daddy took me to church without any panties on!' and she lifts up her dress up over her head to show her mother. Sure enough, she didn't have anything on under there."
Alex put his head in his hand and smiled. "My wife says, 'Why did you take to church without any panties?' Now, I dressed that child, and she had panties on her when I did. I didn't know that when she went to the backroom, she always took them off."
My son does the same thing. When the commodes comes up almost to your chest and you have scale it like a small mountain to get on top of it, having underwear around your ankles is an encumbrance you just don't need. Afterward, putting underwear back on can be tricky, what with the inside-out/outside-in issue and distinguishing which 2 of the 3 holes go around your legs and which one goes around your waist. Rather than go to the trouble to figure out these conundrums, many small children are content to leave their underwear on the floor if no one is around to insist they put them back on.
"My wife still doesn't let me live that down," he says. Apparently, the fact that he took his child to church only partially dressed one time proved to her that there are some things a man just can't be trusted to handle properly. No doubt, this has come in handy for him in the last 14 years. On countless occasions his wife has probably said, "Honey, can you....oh, wait. Never mind. I'll take care it of myself."
If he hasn't already, I think Alex should thank his daughter for the favor.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * # * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
.
.
Today on my drive into work, I was thinking that 3 year olds are peculiar people, and that I'm not the only one to have noticed this.
Back in March when I attended the Democratic Party convention in my county, one of the other delegates from my district was Alex. He was a tall, lean, soft spoken black guy with a 17-year-old daughter about to graduate high school. He showed off a picture of her in her prom dress, and we other delegates ooh-ed and ahh-ed over how pretty she was. The other two women delegates each had teenagers as well. I was the only one who still had a toddler at home. I had just called my father's house to check on my son, and learned that he had thrown a little tantrum because he wanted to go outside, but could not because when I had packed him up in the car that morning still in his pajamas, I forgot to bring his shoes. He had his socks on, but would not take them off.
"Three year olds are peculiar people," I told my fellow delegates.
"They sure are," Alex said, and told a story about his daughter at that age that his teenaged princess would probably be embarrassed to know he was sharing with a bunch of strangers. One Sunday morning when his daughter was 3, his wife had to work and Alex was put in charge of taking both their children to church.
"So I got my daughter all dressed up in her little dress," he said, "and I got her pretty little shoes on her, I got her hair done, and then when we were ready to go, she said, 'Daddy, I need to go pee pee.' Now, she was potty trained, so I asked her if she needed any help, and she said no. I took her to the bathroom and then left her in there to go do what she needed to do. After awhile she came out and told me she was done, so we went to church.
"When we got there I dropped her off in the nursery, and the ladies took her, and she didn't say anything. Then after church, I picked her up and they handed her back to me, and nobody said anything to me. Then I took her home, and my wife was there. I was all proud of myself for doing everything right and not messing anything up. You know, getting the kids to church and all, having them all dressed and looking nice like they should.
"So my daughter walks over to my wife and say, 'Mommy, look! Daddy took me to church without any panties on!' and she lifts up her dress up over her head to show her mother. Sure enough, she didn't have anything on under there."
Alex put his head in his hand and smiled. "My wife says, 'Why did you take to church without any panties?' Now, I dressed that child, and she had panties on her when I did. I didn't know that when she went to the backroom, she always took them off."
My son does the same thing. When the commodes comes up almost to your chest and you have scale it like a small mountain to get on top of it, having underwear around your ankles is an encumbrance you just don't need. Afterward, putting underwear back on can be tricky, what with the inside-out/outside-in issue and distinguishing which 2 of the 3 holes go around your legs and which one goes around your waist. Rather than go to the trouble to figure out these conundrums, many small children are content to leave their underwear on the floor if no one is around to insist they put them back on.
"My wife still doesn't let me live that down," he says. Apparently, the fact that he took his child to church only partially dressed one time proved to her that there are some things a man just can't be trusted to handle properly. No doubt, this has come in handy for him in the last 14 years. On countless occasions his wife has probably said, "Honey, can you....oh, wait. Never mind. I'll take care it of myself."
If he hasn't already, I think Alex should thank his daughter for the favor.
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no subject
Date: 2008-06-25 09:32 pm (UTC)We don't have kids, but if we did, this would certainly be MY plan of action.
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Once a friend of mind had to go out of town for work. She asked me to keep her 6yo daughter while she was gone. I was horrified. Not only was I an only child, I had NO experience with children. She assured me that if I followed her directions, everything would be fine. I carried around her written instructions with me like they were the last copy of the bible. I consulted them for every little thing. Monday went by, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, then Friday. Everything went off without a hitch. I returned the child, earned my fantastic friend points and was plenty pleased with myself. Later on I realized that one thing had been missing from the list: making sure she brushed her teeth. Yep, she went the whole week without a single brushing.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-25 09:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-26 12:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-26 03:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-26 12:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-26 03:46 pm (UTC)