Memorial Day Weekend 2008

Does This Look Like the Face of a Racist?

So, at the park last week, Jackson, naturally, wanted to play with the most out-of-control rugrat in the whole park. I mean this boy was "that kid", you know the one, there's one of them at every park - the one with snot running down his lip, persistently coughing in every kid's face, dirt all over, an 8-year old sister supposedly keeping track of him, and no adult caregiver in sight.

But, Jackson was attracted to him because he was older (maybe 3 years old), and doing all sorts of things that look attractive to Jackson - climbing the big boy equipment, running around, jumping on this and that - you get the picture. So, Jackson's following his lead and trying to emulate this boy, when the boy decides that he's had enough and runs off with his sister, leaving Jackson high and dry on top of the playground structure.

Desperate to keep his new best friend, Jackson yelled: "Stop boy! Come back boy! Come back!"

Not getting any response from the boy, Jackson then started yelling at the top of his lungs: "Come back brown boy! Play over here brown boy!"

Is it wrong that I was both laughing and briefly mortified? I'm sure Jackson had no malicious intent in labeling the boy as "brown boy"....I mean, Jackson is only 2 years old, and the boy was, in fact, brown. But Jackson obviously hasn't learned the rules of decency and political correctness. So I'm laughing because it's funny to watch him call after the boy in complete desperation and trying to get his attention by calling out the only two things he knew about the boy - that he was a boy and that he was brown. I was just a bit mortified though because the park patrons were of various races and I didn't know if all of these other people understood why Jackson was shouting after the "brown boy" will all of his might. Did they think that I had taught him to call people out by their skin color?

Of course, in the end, I should not have been surprised when no one seemed to notice - after all, half of the parents barely pay attention to their own kid(s), let alone what the other kids are doing/saying at the park. I didn't see anyone snickering or whispering or giving Jackson or I dirty looks because I don't think anyone really heard Jackson....least of all the boy that he was trying to get to come back.

As impressed as I am with Jackson's thought process and ability to try to be more specific when the boy would not first answer to just "boy", I am actually equally impressed that Jackson got the "boy" part right. I readily identified the boy as a boy, but he did have long dreadlocks that were pulled back into a ponytail, so it would have been very easy for Jackson to mislabel him as a girl. I'm pretty sure that would have made the whole incident worse, so thank God for small favors.

He's Just So Helpful for Packing

Toddler Bed

We converted his crib into the toddler bed on Mother's Day and it has gone quite well. We had about a 20 minute struggle for his first nap in the "new bed", but he's been a champ about it ever since and it has gone swimmingly.

We were going to wait until we moved to the new house to transition him to a bed, but we changed our mind. First, he has woken up soaking wet every morning since Saturday. This new development has not only led to us limiting his fluid intake after dinner but it has also led to the frequent changing of his bed sheets. Have you ever tried to change the crib sheets on a crib with a crib tent on it? Not fun or easy. Plus our crib does not have a side rail that raises/lowers, so it makes it even harder to change the sheet. Second, he does quite well sleeping in regular beds when we are away from home for the night, so he's really probably ready for a real bed. We spend a fair bit of time at my parents' cabin during the summer and he'll sleep in a regular bed there, so this might make our weekends at the cabin more enjoyable this summer. Third, the baby will be here very soon after the house is ready (hopefully not before) and I didn't want him to feel that the baby was taking "his bed" away...even though, technically, he/she is. I thought that with the crib rail back on for the new baby, it will seem less like his old bed to him. Fourth, if we waited until the new house and the transition didn't go well, I didn't want to be mega-pregnant and dealing with a kid that wouldn't stay in his bed. I may still get that if he is not comfortable in the new house right away, but at least I'll know his wanderings from bed won't be because he's not used to sleeping in a real bed.

P.S. Yeah, that's a Pirates of the Caribbean pillowcase AND a stuffed bunny he's sleeping with.......you wanna make something of it?!?!?

First Ice Cream Truck Visit of the Season

...Or, more accurately, the title should read: "First Ice Cream Truck Visit of HIS LIFE".

Superheroes

Chris insists that Jackson picked out a Justice League action figure set at the store ALL BY HIMSELF. I'm not really inclined to believe Chris since Jackson never showed too much interest in superheroes before this, but Jackson sure does like these figures enough that I am starting to give Chris the benefit of the doubt.

Of course, Chris is peeved that, out of all the Justice League characters, Hawk Girl is probably Jackson's favorite so far.

"Smells Like Lemon"

As Jackson was walking over to his cousin Adam, he farted loud enough for everyone to hear.

Chris then asked the obvious and asked Jackson if he farted.

Jackson said: "Yes. It smells like lemon."