Little Weirdo

When you have a little person in your life, you realize how different we are before we are molded, pressed, and forced to conform to society's expectation. Little people do things without concern for what observers will think. They behave in a way that confirms for you that this is who they are, free, unencumbered, and true. They are like little arrows, let loose by an archer in a windstorm--they will fly with haste in any direction.

This is why we love the way little kids dress themselves--they are all dino shirts, jammy pants, and rain boots.

Isaac is no different. How many people do you see regularly wearing beards of face pant in public? I love the fact that his favorite shirt his a hideous, positively hideous, dino shirt. I love the fact that he loves his Teeney Tiny Gloves even though they are clearly to small. I love the fact that he chooses his shoes based on his belief that one pair makes him faster than another.

When going to the library this weekend, Bianca asked if we should wash off his beard. I was taken aback--why wash off the beard it is so cool? Then she asked me what would happen if older kids made fun of him. It made me so sad to think about it. Then it made me mad. I went through all of the 12 stages of grief maybe not in the right order, but I hit all of them.

Growing up is partly a quest to find yourself and define yourself in a social setting, but the crime is that we are most like who we truly are when we are two and half wearing a beard and teeney tiny gloves. Growing up is something we strive to do as kids, but as parents we'd like to have that little strange person, that genuine truly unique person, around as long as possible.
Tony Sculimbrene