"He is NOT your baby," he laughed as I tried to explain that MY baby was HIS daddy. "NO WAY," he declared with confidence, assured that his 6'4" father would never have been anyone's baby. If he had been a little older or more proficient with words, he might have argued that the strong mass of a man who directs him to eat his vegetables and holds both him and his brother in his strong arms could never have fit in my belly.. Instead, he shook his head, assured himself that I was wrong and he went back to playing! He might have mumbled, "Silly Meme," slightly out of my earshot, but clearly did not need to continue such a fanciful conversation.
I thought about the brief exchange and the complex way we all unpack knowledge of our families and our world. I thought of how my graduate students often struggle to accept unfamiliar ideas, like curriculum based assessments or normal curve equivalents. Some ideas and concepts are very hard to accept as they shatter our views and perceptions of ourselves and others. Some ideas are hard to accept as they do not easily fit into our understanding of the universe.
Someday, he will understand his daddy is my baby.
4 comments:
This is such a thoughtful and playful slice which has me thinking of Carla Shalaby's book, Troublemakers. And, it has me thinking about adults who just shout louder even when their ideas are flawed and harmful. Or maybe it's the term "baby"? Language and perception and connections never cease to excite my imagination and sense of wonder. Thanks for a lovely slice.
This is delightful! My three year old granddaughter is trying to process the same thing - daddy is a baby? So fun!!
How could daddy be a baby? He's daddy. Of course this is how children think until they are old enough to comprehend. And yes, we all struggle with concepts we don't understand until a light somewhere goes on and then suddenly it all makes sense.
This interchange is truly a slice - a conversation described with just enough detail!
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