On our way into the gym this morning, Turner walks past the pool and says, "Mom? Why are there no pretty ladies in the pool?" Sometimes when we pass the pool there is a water aerobics class going on. The "ladies" in the pool often include men, but rarely is anyone in the pool under the age of fifty. Anytime Turner passes by, he waves to them and yells a hello. Generally, the entire pool of women will oooooh in unison.
When we leave the gym, there are six or seven women in the pool and one man . . . again everyone is of the age to be eligible for social security benefits. As we near the gate, Turner leaves his face through the bars and says, "Hey pretty ladies!" He's never called them pretty before, nor has he ever referred to them as ladies before (except, of course, when we walked into the gym). The pool riots. The gentleman says, "Hey buddy. I'm no lady." A woman beside the gentleman elbows him and says "You got that right." Turner pulls his face back from the gate and waves. The pool waves back in unison and the leader says, "He's so cute." Yes.
We are walking to the car and I say to Turner, "Those ladies said you were cute."
He stops walking and says, "I'm not cute."
"Oh I think you are super cute." He starts walking again. "Well if you aren't cute then what are you? Handsome?"
"No. I'm a four year old now. I am not cute! I am not handsome!" he extends his arms to his sides as he says each of these statements. "I am just old and proddy."
"Old and proddy?"
"Yeah. And don't you even ask me what that is either."
2 comments:
OH MY GOSH. he is just too much!
In large part because I'm writing, in my dissertation, about the trope of listening and the construction of human subjectivity (i.e. recognition), I absolutely love your depiction of the role that listening plays in the bond between mother (father?) and child. "Listen to him grow..." sounds like music to my ears. I mean, from etches in the doorway periodically marking little johnie's growth spurts to the "you must be this tall to ride" signs barring all of us, at one time or another, from participating in the world of roller coasters, children are consistently, if not constantly, constructed as subjects via the visual realm, which makes me really appreciate your work.
I invite you please to peruse my blog http://kolog.wordpress.com. In the last year, I've written several posts discussing the role that listening (or the refusal to do so) plays in the formation of of a very real generational (not to mention gendered and racialized) divide, which is a theme represented in various films ranging from Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt to Spielberg's ET: The Extra-Terrestial.
All this to say that you may find my humble attempts at further articulating these thoughts of interest, and even better, have thoughts/suggestions.
Post a Comment