Taking Care of Mommy

The other night I was not feeling well. I had a sinus headache, and had spent the better part of the day itching pretty much all over. After dinner we all headed upstairs for some last-minute playtime before bed. Zachary had just gotten a pirate treasure box kit as a belated Christmas present, and he was dying to paint it. So I set him up with the paints in the bathroom, and he got going. I was sitting there with him, and decided to lay down on the carpet. When Zachary saw me lay down, he put down his paintbrush, and went & brought me a pillow from his room. Then he brought me a stuffed animal to snuggle with. He said he was going to take care of me since I wasn’t feeling good. He even felt my forehead, and determined I had a fever because it felt warm (in fact, I did not have a fever – I don’t think he really understands that the body is just naturally going to feel warm to the touch, regardless of whether you have a fever or not). It was so sweet. And I loved that Josh & Liam were in another room, with Liam probably making Josh rock him like a baby, while Zachary was taking care of me like such a little man. I didn’t really need taking care of – it wasn’t THAT bad, but I just let him, because I think it made both of us feel good.

That same night at dinner, Zachary had randomly asked when we could have a tea party. I about fell out of my chair, because I had assumed that tea parties would never take place in my house, unless I was babysitting a bunch of little girls for some reason. Josh’s eyes got really big – why was his son asking for a tea party??? I of course jumped on it & told Zachary I’d have a tea party with him anytime he wants. I guess lucky for Josh the tea party talk has died down, but then my mom called this morning to tell me about another funny thing that happened over the weekend when Zachary was at her house for the sleepover. She has a doll house in her garage – it used to be mine. We kept it, because my grandmother made it for me when I was little, and frankly it is awesome. It was definitely the kind of thing I wanted to save & give to my little girl someday (or, as it turned out, just leave it to sit at the top of her garage). Apparently Zachary noticed it for the first time this weekend & asked my mom what it was. Here’s roughly how that conversation went:

Zachary: Grandma, what’s that?
Grandma: It’s a dollhouse that used to belong to your mommy when she was a little girl.
Z: Can I have it?
G: Well, it’s a little big to put in your room.
Z: We could put it in the playroom!
G: It’s a little big for the playroom too.
Z: Well, could it be mine when I come here?
G: I’m not sure your daddy would like that…

I mean, I guess I should not really care if my son wants to have tea parties and play with doll houses. It’s better than him pretending to shoot guns & beat up people, right? I think it’s just one of those things that despite how hard we may try to not force our children into specific gender roles, sometimes it is inevitable, and we end up giving little boys trucks, and we give baby dolls to little girls. Maybe it’s time to let him explore new things. Note to Josh – please don’t freak out. It’s not like I’m going on a shopping spree in the Barbie aisle at Toys R Us or anything.

But maybe we will have that tea party sometime.