Partie Deux
I'm proud of my kids.
Suppose, for a moment, that I'd led into that with a brief intro; I had intended to do exactly that, but it didn't quite work out. The irony here is that the mailing list story had nothing to do with my original reason for wanting to write this, really; a couple of birthday parties did, however.
Ben started kindergarten this year, and is in a class that is a combined K-2 class; for the uninitiated, that means that Ben will (conceivably) be in that class through second grade; it also means that he's in a slightly bigger than normal class. In the past couple of months, we've had quite a few birthday parties to attend (or throw -- Ben's birthday was in February) for current or former classmates, and as the excitement was building for a recent party -- this process takes several days; if it was allowed to continue much longer than that I think our kids would literally explode with unfulfilled anticipation -- Ben stopped gushing about the wonders of the upcoming party, looked at me with a serious face, and asked "Is Maya going to come with us?"
My usual response to this type of question is to assure him that no, Maya will be perfectly fine alone at home for a few hours; in fact, we're thinking of going out of town for a few weeks and leaving her to enjoy some peace and quiet. It's fun to watch Ben's response to this type of answer; first, depending on whether he was hoping for a "yes" or "no",there'll be a moment of elation or disappointment, then concern as he realizes that my answer is out of sync with what he knows about the world, and finally amusement when it occurs to him that once again, Daddy is Joking. An accusatory scowl usually follows as he explains the folly of my ways. Anyhow -- off track once again -- this time, because the party was indeed of great importance to his little world, and I didn't want to trample his expectations too roughly, rather than suggesting that we'd leave Maya home, I asked him whether he was hoping for her to come. I really wasn't sure what the answer would be; Maya and Ben love to torment each other, and the "love" and the "torment" seem to be inseparable. I really wasn't sure if I'd talking to this Ben:
or this one:
As it turns out, Ben without hesitation replied that he did want Maya to come with us, and he brightened visibly when I told him that was part of the plan. He also very gallantly announced that Maya was quite welcome at his birthday party back in February, and more recently, he invited her along last week on a Benjamin-and-Daddy outing to a few nearby play areas (the mall, Himmel Park, and of course Jamba Juice). I know that it might be a long shot for me to hope that this kind of accord between the two of them will continue ("kepe out" signage notwithstanding -- that policy has been completely unenforced in the weeks since it was posted) but even so, I do hope that they'll continue to love tormenting each other for a very long time, maybe even forever.
Suppose, for a moment, that I'd led into that with a brief intro; I had intended to do exactly that, but it didn't quite work out. The irony here is that the mailing list story had nothing to do with my original reason for wanting to write this, really; a couple of birthday parties did, however.
Ben started kindergarten this year, and is in a class that is a combined K-2 class; for the uninitiated, that means that Ben will (conceivably) be in that class through second grade; it also means that he's in a slightly bigger than normal class. In the past couple of months, we've had quite a few birthday parties to attend (or throw -- Ben's birthday was in February) for current or former classmates, and as the excitement was building for a recent party -- this process takes several days; if it was allowed to continue much longer than that I think our kids would literally explode with unfulfilled anticipation -- Ben stopped gushing about the wonders of the upcoming party, looked at me with a serious face, and asked "Is Maya going to come with us?"
My usual response to this type of question is to assure him that no, Maya will be perfectly fine alone at home for a few hours; in fact, we're thinking of going out of town for a few weeks and leaving her to enjoy some peace and quiet. It's fun to watch Ben's response to this type of answer; first, depending on whether he was hoping for a "yes" or "no",there'll be a moment of elation or disappointment, then concern as he realizes that my answer is out of sync with what he knows about the world, and finally amusement when it occurs to him that once again, Daddy is Joking. An accusatory scowl usually follows as he explains the folly of my ways. Anyhow -- off track once again -- this time, because the party was indeed of great importance to his little world, and I didn't want to trample his expectations too roughly, rather than suggesting that we'd leave Maya home, I asked him whether he was hoping for her to come. I really wasn't sure what the answer would be; Maya and Ben love to torment each other, and the "love" and the "torment" seem to be inseparable. I really wasn't sure if I'd talking to this Ben:
or this one:
As it turns out, Ben without hesitation replied that he did want Maya to come with us, and he brightened visibly when I told him that was part of the plan. He also very gallantly announced that Maya was quite welcome at his birthday party back in February, and more recently, he invited her along last week on a Benjamin-and-Daddy outing to a few nearby play areas (the mall, Himmel Park, and of course Jamba Juice). I know that it might be a long shot for me to hope that this kind of accord between the two of them will continue ("kepe out" signage notwithstanding -- that policy has been completely unenforced in the weeks since it was posted) but even so, I do hope that they'll continue to love tormenting each other for a very long time, maybe even forever.
posted by Me at
11:42 AM
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