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that's just little shit

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 2012.03.25

Tonight our son was putting several of his toys into a good-sized cardboard box that he's been using as a "barn", up-ended and covered in dinosaur drawings and his dad's attempts at writing out the set of katakana.

I pointed to three small things that he hadn't put in the box with the rest. "What about those?"

He glanced at the Lego elephant, figurine, and horse. "no, that's just little shit."

"Uh... what?"

"shit! it's just little shit daddy."

Great. "That word's not for little boys, Kenny."

He looked at me, his head cocked to one side. "is it just for girls?"

OK, points for having got the difference between boys and girls, at last, but .. I could see that this wasn't going well.

"is it just for daddies?" he then asked.

I stood and approached him. "No, it's not a great word for Daddies either." I reached to pick him up.

"don't touch me," he said.

Sigh.

rand()m quote

Scratch the surface of any cynic, and you will find a wounded idealist underneath.

—John Ortberg