Well howdy sisters,
Eureka, there is life on the other side of the internet!
Welcome back S3!
I will be taking your lipstick advice to heart, as I have
decided to wear more of it. The thought crystallized recently after being
confused with a man on the streets. It went like this. A mother walking with
her daughter said “Maybe this gentleman
can show us the way” and she walked up to me, looked me in the face and
proceeded to ask where the market was.
“Gentlewoman” I said back to
her and she stared at me with a blank expression, far too long, in my opinion,
before she realized her mistake.
Her daughter could not stop laughing. When I came home, a little confused, and told my
children, Rosie tried to comfort me. “But
mama you do not look like a man. When you wear makeup you look quite nice. “
So, ruby red lipstick it is.
Otherwise on the western front, Jip is on his way to mastering
the basics of puberty. He is already doing really well at sarcasm. “You see where practice gets you”, I
compliment him and he nods. “I see now.” He holds rants on needing more freedom
in this phase of his life (he will be 12 in April) and is thereby making an excellent
start at tearing himself from the mother skirt, which we all know is a
necessary step towards manhood. His main strategy is to pretend I am not
talking. Either that or implement above mentioned sarcasm, say no when he means
yes, or vice versa, and keep it up for a very long time. Sometimes he
slips up, and asks for a random hug in the middle of his puberty practice. I
give it to him, but warn him not to do it too often.
Admittedly I have been dogging him quite a bit lately on various
aspects of his behavior (too much screen time, dirty clothes on floor, continually
untied shoelaces, sneaking biscuits from the tin before dinner), which does nothing for the general mood in our household. I realize I
should be a bit more selective in the fights I pick. My excuse is that I also
have to get used to the new situation. I, too, am transitioning. While we were
biking to another open day for a secondary school, he told me very seriously I should let him
make more of his own decisions, as he is capable. He has developed the habit of
buying cans of coca cola with his pocket money, which I do not like, and I keep
telling him as such. He is right, I decide as I listen to him, maybe I should
let this one go. There are worse things to worry about.
“Yeah and while we are
on the subject, if, when I am, say twenty, I should decide to try a cigarette,
you should not go crazy either.”
“At twenty, or do you mean thirteen? “ He shrugs.
I will be glad when we make it to twenty.
Ciao, ciao,
S1
