An observation and a story from Washburn

[janradder]

Each Monday afternoon I take Arie and Éiden to Washburn for Arie's therapy session.  Most of the time when I have the boys out in public (and even when I don't have the boys) I look at the other families and how they interact with each other.  First I get jealous.  Then I hate them.  Because they are normal, don't yell and scream at on another, and seem to enjoy spending time together.  Not at Washburn.  At Washburn, I get to see families just like mine.  Sometimes I get to see kids who behave worse than Arie does, throwing fits and tantrums, flinging toys and books with abandon and laughing hysterically or screaming angrily while they do it.  It's one of the few places I can go with the boys and actually feel normal.

That's the observation.  This is the story.  Today Éiden was showing one of the mothers in the waiting room a picture of a chimpanzee.

"Can I see it?" her son asked.

Éiden turned the book to the son.

"Oh, a monkey!" he said.

Éiden narrowed his eyes at the boy.  "That is not a monkey," he said dripping with disdain for the child.  "That is a pinjanzee."

"Yes," said his mother, cheerfully.  "Chimpanzees are monkeys!"

"No, they are not," said Éiden in disbelief at the woman's naivete.

"Oh?" she said, patronizingly, "What are they?"

"They're apes," said Éiden.  "They don't have tails," he added, as if this was obvious to any but the truest simpletons which he now realized this mother and her son to be.

"Oh, I see," said the mother, humoring the foolish four year old who was too young to know that chimpanzees were in fact monkeys.

Éiden gave her one last look thinking, "idiot," and then walked off in disgust.

Comments

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

I also find Washburn extremely restful. Aaaaah, I say to myself. Look at that child, hurling words and blocks at his mother. Aaaah, I say to myself. That one is laughing hysterically at nothing and his mother looks like she's on the verge of suicide.

Home.

Also: Éiden IS all that and a bag of chimps.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

For that horrible pun, you get a virtual head smack -- *SMACK!*

[(Anonymous)]

I sure could have used him today when we were attacked by a sarcastic blind man shortly after our car was towed.

[pierogi-queen.livejournal.com]

OMG - What a great story!!

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Thanks -- it was pretty funny to watch it happen.

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

Not that Eiden is wrong, mind you.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Last night he mentioned it before I turned off his light and he was still kind of disgusted with the mother and son for thinking chimps were monkeys.