Wednesday, February 04, 2009

symbolic cultural objects...

We Imperfects are not a timely folk.

I was surprised to see that N was late to school 9 times, said a punctual mama. She paused, grinned, and asked, how many times was the Eldest late? I laughed. Twenty-three....

Nope. Not a timely breed, mine. And yet one day, we were early for a playdate. Realizing this, we did the sensible thing and stopped at Starbucks. The other playdate mother is a coffee drinker, I rationalized. I could get my (oh, ugh) white hot chocolate, her decaf, and still be appropriately slightly-late for the playdate.

And so we were.

Standing in line with the Toddles, we negotiated drinks (I want that green one! - it has kiwi - Oh. I want that big one! - it costs a lot more- What's that? -a sandwich. It has wheat.-) and practiced the 'I'm being patient' dance. Because, let's face it: being patient has very little to do with standing still, should you ask my boys. Dancing in place while on line is a compromise that suits us all, while amusing bystanders. What's not to love?

The Toddles does a great patient dance, and will happily take requests for the 'I'm being patient song.' Mid-lyric, he noticed something. Crouching to examine, he circled the object of his fascination, reaching out gently, gently, with a finger.

What's that, Mum?
I grinned.
Those are the heels on this lady's boots.
(looking at my heel-less, slightly scungy sneakers) Are you sure?

The lady did her best to ignore the Toddles, which was perhaps made trickier by his carefully rolling his orange juice up against the arc of her heels, curving inwards from the sole of her boot. I applauded both her aplomb as well as his fascination.

In the car, the Toddles mused a bit, then asked, why does she wear those shoes?
Because she likes them, and she can, I informed him. But I don't.

Happily, the playdate mother wears shoes even more sensible than mine. Nevertheless, throughout the day, I'd catch the Toddles eyeing my footwear speculatively.
************************************
Because Lois made me wonder, I'm now prepared to let you all know:



I am a Knife



You are precise, determined, and detail oriented.

You mean what you say, and you say what you mean.

You enjoy taking risks and living on the edge.

You are a controversial person. Your opinions tend to be divisive.





I am prepared to dispute this, of course...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL @ toddles and his shoe fascination. it's amazing what these kids come up with.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I'm the sensible shoe type, too... too kltuzy to wear heels, usually donning a pair of schleppy old crocs or boat shoes.

Anonymous said...

Well, given your penchant for sharp pointy objects I can't say I'm surprised ;)

But I don't think that survey is v. accurate (I know, shocking) b/c according to them I'm a fork aka "driven and wildly ambitious". Ha!

All this talk of utensils is forcing me to sign off with "But cousin, why a spoon?"

jgfellow said...

Apparently, I am a knife, too. Is that okay?