Daddy and Me: 12/17/06
At the last BookCrossing meeting I picked up Daddy and Me from the Dublin library cart for Sean and Harriet to share. Sean likes it because he can read many of the words and because he likes the pictures of these children playing with their fathers. What I like best about this short book is that these photographs are clearly of actual fathers and their children. Boys and girls are equally represented so that it's not just a book for infant or toddler boys only. The color photography is bold and engaging. Each page has a gerund illustrated: swinging, shaving, banging, buttoning, strumming and the like.

Two pages bother me a little only because they aren't relevant to our particular family: the shaving and banging. Beards or at least mustaches are such a feature among the men in this family that I'm not sure Sean has any concept of what shaving is. The "banging" page shows father and child banging away on a set of pots and pans spread out on the floor. I would have liked to have seen "cooking" illustrated as well as Ian and Sean both love to cook.

Gratitude #17: Independent Thinking
While Sean can be exasperating sometimes, I am grateful that he's smart and confident enough to question authority. Sean rarely takes what he's told at face value. I'm glad that he's not easily bullied or lured into doing things even if it does mean frustration for me sometimes.

Take for example our trip to Burger King in Dublin yesterday. I had taken Sean and Harriet to Dublin while Ian was at a rare Saturday class at Berkeley. Before heading home from the shopping we had done we chose to have lunch.

After lunch, Sean wanted to play on the huge play-space outside. A girl (named Isabel as we later learned) who must have been about five was already outside playing. She decided Sean would be the perfect person to boss around. Throughout the entire fifteen minutes that they played together, Isabel kept shouting: "Follow me! Follow me!" and insisting that a crocodile was after them and that if Sean didn't race after her the crocodile would get them.

Sean went along because he loves to run around but he didn't blindly let her be the boss. He questioned everything she said. Ultimately Isabel started growling at him, tired and frustrated by his constant stream of questions. The conversation went like this:

Isabel: "Quickly! Follow me! Hurry. Hurry. Follow me!"

Sean: "Why? What happened?"

Isabel: "Hurry! There's a crocodile. We have to get away. Hurry! Come on! Follow me."

Sean: "Why? Why's there a crocodile? What if it's an alligator? How do you know we're going fast enough?"

Isabel: "Come on! Follow me!"

Sean: "What if we go slow? What if we go this way? What happened? Why are we doing this?"

Isabel: "I said follow me. You're making me very angry!"

Sean: "Why?"

Isabel: "Grrrr!"

Sean: "Huh?"

Isabel: "GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

At this point Sean decided he had had enough and pulled the ultimate diplomatic way out of things. He called out to me: "Okay Mom! I'm ready." Then to Isabel he said, "Sorry. That was my Mom. She says I have to go home now."

That's my boy!

 

Steps: 5000