Reunion Revolution
My son has reached that excellent talking stage where his brain often supplies sentences that have their own logic but are off-beat enough to have me in stitches. For example:
OB: (handing me an empty plastic cup) Here ya go. Drink for ya.
Me: Oooh, thank you. Do you want some?
OB: Me not like that drink.
Me: Oh really? What is it?
OB: Errmmmm . . . . ummmmm . . . dog poo!
Or, during a potty training conversation:
Me: Let's try to keep these big boy pants dry. What do you need to do to keep them dry?
OB: Take it off!
See what I mean? There's a logic to it!
So it was a great pleasure to take him with me to a friend's birthday garden party today and show him off to a whole new group of people. And he was a big hit! No strange behaviour, no standing out from the crowd. He played happily with a huge gang of kids he'd never seen before in a strange garden and totally fitted in. I was very proud of him.
And while I understand that there's something important about keeping your own identity when you become a parent, I have to say that having him with me has revolutionised my social experiences. The birthday girl was an old friend from university. We don't see each other very often, although we are good friends, but she does keep in touch with a lot of other people from uni. The only time I see most of these people is when we meet up for an occasional birthday, wedding or other celebration.
For the longest time I have had nothing much to say at these reunions. No husband, no kids, same job for years and years, while others seem to come with some exciting new life event to tell us about practically every year. This time, I was the one with all the stories to tell and I don't mind saying, it felt good to describe over and over again how I became a parent and have everybody cooing over my son. It felt good to have 'come of age' and achieved even one of the life milestones that others seem to practically stumble over without even trying.
I had wanted to look good at the party today. I had wanted to be thinner, glamorous and deceptively young-looking. I didn't manage any of that. In fact I had to rush out to the sales this morning to buy a new dress so that at least I could be wearing something that fit me and wasn't leggings. But actually it didn't matter. Nobody was looking at me. And I was fine with it!
OB: (handing me an empty plastic cup) Here ya go. Drink for ya.
Me: Oooh, thank you. Do you want some?
OB: Me not like that drink.
Me: Oh really? What is it?
OB: Errmmmm . . . . ummmmm . . . dog poo!
Or, during a potty training conversation:
Me: Let's try to keep these big boy pants dry. What do you need to do to keep them dry?
OB: Take it off!
See what I mean? There's a logic to it!
So it was a great pleasure to take him with me to a friend's birthday garden party today and show him off to a whole new group of people. And he was a big hit! No strange behaviour, no standing out from the crowd. He played happily with a huge gang of kids he'd never seen before in a strange garden and totally fitted in. I was very proud of him.
And while I understand that there's something important about keeping your own identity when you become a parent, I have to say that having him with me has revolutionised my social experiences. The birthday girl was an old friend from university. We don't see each other very often, although we are good friends, but she does keep in touch with a lot of other people from uni. The only time I see most of these people is when we meet up for an occasional birthday, wedding or other celebration.
For the longest time I have had nothing much to say at these reunions. No husband, no kids, same job for years and years, while others seem to come with some exciting new life event to tell us about practically every year. This time, I was the one with all the stories to tell and I don't mind saying, it felt good to describe over and over again how I became a parent and have everybody cooing over my son. It felt good to have 'come of age' and achieved even one of the life milestones that others seem to practically stumble over without even trying.
I had wanted to look good at the party today. I had wanted to be thinner, glamorous and deceptively young-looking. I didn't manage any of that. In fact I had to rush out to the sales this morning to buy a new dress so that at least I could be wearing something that fit me and wasn't leggings. But actually it didn't matter. Nobody was looking at me. And I was fine with it!
Sounds like a fantastic day!
ReplyDeleteLove this post. Sounds like you had a lovely day. I can identify with going somewhere and all of a sudden you have more to talk about when you have child/ren who everybody adores - funny how things change when you have little ones!
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