Tuesday, August 18, 2009

I guess it comes built-in, maybe in the Y chromosome?

A few days ago, Ava had a little girl from her class over to play after school. Nate, of course, wanted to be included in the activities. Ava was really good about letting him join in their tea party and follow them around and generally be a nuisance. Such is the job of little brothers.

E, the little girl that was visiting us last week, doesn't have a little brother, so she found Nate to be quite the novelty. And as she watched Nate and screamed with laughter at his antics, I saw my 3 year old boy have a revelation. If I do stupid stuff, girls will laugh at me! This totally rocks!! It was as if his life was given new purpose.


As I type this, Ava has another friend, L, over to play. And as soon as Nate woke up from his nap about half an hour ago, it was on with the show! Heeerrre's Nate--three shows a night! Be sure to tip your waitresses! Over these last two playdates I have watched him do the following to make Ava's little friends laugh:

--Slap himself repeatedly in the face, a la The Three Stooges.
--Fall down on purpose.
--Scrub his face with a dish scrubber. (This didn't go so well and was quickly abandoned. Ouch)
--Put Ava's underwear on his head.
--Speak an entire gibberish language, complete with arm gestures and a little dance.
--And last week, he came out of the bathroom with no pants or underwear on and joined Ava and E in the backyard.

This last one, unfortunately, went undiscovered by me till E's mother and I went to the back door to call them inside. I have no idea how long he'd been out there, naked.

Jason and I were laughing about it later that night. "Here we go," I said to him. "He'll spend the next 20 years of his life doing this." It's like I could see future incarnations of Nate, his tactics growing only slightly more sophisticated with time. It seems it doesn't take long for boys to figure this out, even though they don't always realize that drawing attention to oneself by any means isn't always flattering!

L, the friend who's visiting today has a little brother Nate's age at home. So unfortunately for Nate, she is not as impressed as E was. So I am watching him ramp up his efforts. This could get ugly/interesting, so I better go intervene. The boy's only 3--I guess he's got time to learn at least a little finesse with the ladies. Lord help us. No, really. Lord, help us!

7 comments:

  1. Oh, this made me laugh & laugh. Exactly right -- with minor modifications, he is dialling in the M.O. that will carry him through decades to come. Especially the disrobing part, right? ;)

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  2. Well, it sounds like he's already got all the tricks I know to get the ladies' attention. But walking out of the bathroom with no pants or underwear really takes it to the next level.

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  3. LOLOL! I am dying at his no-pants ploy. Like, "This'll get 'em!"

    I am sure Jason was like, "This is my son, with whom I am well pleased!"

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  4. That Nate is priceless ! When all else fails, drop your britches, huh? He is so cute and smart. Now it seems he wants to be a comedian. Go Nate!

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  5. This post and the comments are chock full 'o hilarious but true wisdom. Dude has some bold moves!

    Reminds me of a saying another wise person said: Shake it, don't break it, took your mama nine months to make it.

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  6. oh how funny! That's what little brothers are for:)
    Nate is so...cute though, Rebekah looooves him (or maybe it's because she doesn't have a little brother either:))

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  7. That is very funny. I can't wait for the boy to start in on those sorts of antics (although to be fair I think he already has a good idea of how to please the ladies).

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