Hunter Gatherer

Big E and I mosied over to the Natural Gardener today after hiking past a mile or so of cars and negotiating through the throngs of people racked with the Spring Fever pandemic sweeping through Austin. Big E has succumbed to this extremely virulent strain and the only way to ease her suffering was to get her hands dirty and plant some organic tomatoes, cucumbers, basil and various flowers. While we were there she found a few other goodies that she felt would really make her feel better so we came home and spent the afternoon planting Roxi, Colby, Tom, Artemis, and a few others whose names escape me at the moment.

That's right. She named all her little plants, including the "rescue" tomato plant that was on the FREE table because somehow it had lost its top. Poor girl needs a pet.

While we were elbow deep in compost and mulch Little A and BB were at a birthday party where Little A allowed a SCORPION to not only be near his person but actually CRAWL on him. I'm trying hard to not take this as open rebellion. But as great as having a horrendous arachnid crawl on him must have been for him the first thing he said when asked how the party was?

"I shot a BOW AND ARROW!!!!!!!!!!!! It was sooooooo AWWWWESOOOOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!".

A few minutes later....

"Did I tell you I shot a bow and arrow? Into hay bales? It was soooo cooooool. Have YOU ever shot a bow and arrow? Did you love it? How many times did you shoot it? What did you shoot at? I really liked shooting a bow and arrow. It wasn't really part of the party but it was the BEST! When do you think I can shoot a bow and arrow again?"

The last time I heard that much enthusiasm come from the boy I'm sure there must've been ice cream, Transformers, an amusement park, AND a 24 hour jumpy house marathon and even then maybe not quite.

I remember a time when I didn't buy into the whole 'boys are inherently different than girls' theory that had been pushed on us for lo these many years. It was around the same time I smugly watched other parents speak harshly to their children at the grocery store or so confidently announced to my other childless friends that MY children would be well disciplined, respectful and polite because that's how I would treat them and they all agreed. We were confused by everyone else's inept parenting skills. Didn't they read the books and the magazine articles clearly explaining how to be a good parent? It all seemed so obvious. Girls didn't HAVE to wear bows and pink clothes and play with dolls and pretend kitchens and boys didn't HAVE to play with balls and things with wheels and toys that make loud shooting noises.

No, they don't need those things because a girl can and will make a doll out of popsicle stick and a boy can and will make a gun out of a popsicle stick. Even when he's never heard the word "gun"....it's just a "shooty thing".

And then the girl will use her popsicle stick to write the names of all the plants and seeds she just planted (not their scientific or common names, but their GIVEN names) so she can talk to them and make them grow big and healthy. And the boy will fashion his popsicle stick into a gun. Or a catapult. Or a sword.

Because that's what they do.