possibly as a result of my romantic history (or histories would possibly be the more accurate term), i have never followed the popular parent path of talking about toddlers as if they are engaged to other toddlers or will marry them when they grow up.
i think that way of talking is like thinking those precious moments figurines are cute. you either get it or you don't.
as i have mentioned before, sebastian has mentioned marriage several times. and since he no longer sees anjali on a daily basis, she is no longer the future mrs magnificent junior. not that he has officially declared that she is wife-non-grata, but the silence speaks volumes.
so the other day sebastian, possibly as a diversion to eating the PERFECTLY GOOD summer squash on his plate announces, "mummy, i think i am going to marry annie."
you know annie of course. if you want a quick review of who annie is, please go back to the july archives and you can see pictures of seb, adam and annie getting their shoes shined together. annie has been mentioned as a future mrs sebastian several times, by both parties. annie is hilarious and as cute as a button.
it's hard when your child, who normally has the conversational attention span of a fruit fly begins confiding, because you don't want to believe it is a diversionary tactic, but deep down you know it probably is. so i fought back the urge to respond, "really? who did you sit beside today during snack? did you have fun? what did you play on the playground? did you play with anyone? are those new kids friends?" i thought i was quite laid back, responding, "well, that's good honey, annie is a lot of fun and a good friend to you. she likes squash."
apparently that little snippet of information was enough to stop seb from signing the prenup. he looked at me and said, "but i also might marry olivia."
BEEP BEEP! CODE RED. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY.
"oh no, sebastian" i smoothly assured my son. " you cannot."
my girlfriend steph (as in steph who brought the amazing race and her vhs to my hospital room) has a son, who is sebastian's age. from the beginning of his life, and olivia's life for that matter, they have been best friends. there are pictures of them swaddled side by side, learning to sit together, holding hands, him giving her a little smoocharoo on the cheek...their parents are already coming to terms with the concept of alternate thanksgivings and Christmases. they've got it all worked out.
with sebastian seeing the cutie patootie olivia every day, he is getting marriage minded. no doubt olivia still prefers ian, but when sebastian uttered olivia's name, i was horrified.
stephanie would never talk to me again if the ian/olivia match came undone. she's one of my best friends! i LOVE HER! i call her every monday between 10-11pm during the commercials of the amazing race to talk tactics. i LOVE HER. i am not having my son be angelina jolie to this much anticipated brad and jennifer match thankyouverymuch. NONONONONONONO. i said,
"seb, there are lots of girls out there. who else do you think you might like to marry?" thankfully, he listed anais VERY briskly. anais is half vietnamese, half french and completley gorgeous. i know seb is fond feelings toward her because he once offered to share snack with her.
"good, good, that makes me happy, she's a nice girl" i breathed, not wanting to say what was really going through my mind, "my happiness is more important than yours"
"does she like squash?" he asked?
and to seal the deal i answered, "i don't think so"
and then i let him run off and play.
good friends are hard to find.
ya know, when i first read that seb wanted to marry olivia, i thought he meant the cat. after that shocker, finding out that he wanted make moves on another man's woman, i was actually relieved.
Posted by: knobody | October 17, 2006 at 09:37 PM
i love this post--from the precious moments figurines bit (you are right! you either get it or you don't!) to the squash diversionary tactic (smart seb), it is so sweet and funny.
Posted by: Polly | October 17, 2006 at 11:53 PM
Great post. And I thought maybe you were talking about the cat too.
My son has a "girlfriend"- the other day they disappeared for about 20 minutes and I found them in the covered slide. I didn't catch anything, but they both had "deer in the headlights" looks and my son said "Mommy, go away." I'm not sure what that was all about- he's only 5. So I just told them it was time to come out now, that we needed to get home.
Posted by: Leggy | October 18, 2006 at 01:07 AM
Great post. And I thought maybe you were talking about the cat too.
My son has a "girlfriend"- the other day they disappeared for about 20 minutes and I found them in the covered slide. I didn't catch anything, but they both had "deer in the headlights" looks and my son said "Mommy, go away." I'm not sure what that was all about- he's only 5. So I just told them it was time to come out now, that we needed to get home.
Posted by: Leggy | October 18, 2006 at 01:08 AM
young love. Parents in the 20's made matches that affected them so it's not that different ;) lol
Posted by: Cristy | October 19, 2006 at 01:04 AM