Saturday morning. Michael and I are fresh out of the shower, and Michael spies our new bathroom scale. Up until recently, we haven’t had one.
“What’s that?” he asks.
“It’s a scale,” his mom says, and she pulls it out from under the chair with her foot.
“What’s it do?” Michael asks.
“You weigh yourself. Here, get on.” She lifts him up and sets him down on the scale. The needle swings up just a bit, and lands on about 35 pounds.
“Hmmmm…he registers about 40 pounds at the doctor’s,” his mom observes.
“Sheesh… that means I’m even heavier than I thought,” I say, disappointed in what I thought were monumental efforts to lose weight.
“Okay,” he says to his mom, “now it’s your turn!”
“NO!” she roars softly.
Thinking quickly, Michael interprets her response.
“It’s just for boys?”
“Yeah, that’s right. It’s just for boys,” she confirms.
And if either one of us want to remain alive, that’s the way we’re going to keep it.



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January 17th, 2009 - 9:10 am
i feel her pain. although, i wasn’t smart enough to come up with the for boys only idea. g-kid is facinated with our digital scale and always wants to weigh himself and then it’s my turn. ugh
January 17th, 2009 - 9:15 am
Michael’s gotten used to having to deal with situations where he’s not allowed to use something or other, and that’s his first choice as to the why of it.
January 17th, 2009 - 9:55 am
Smart boy! I am glad to see you raising your son right. If he learns to avoid these pitfalls early in life, “Do these jeans make me look fat” will come second nature to him. Dodge and weave, dodge and weave.
January 17th, 2009 - 12:28 pm
It’s survival of the wittiest for guys these days.
January 17th, 2009 - 7:17 pm
I like how Michael interpreted her response. Smart boy. My kids would have nagged and picked and poked until my wife ran screaming from the room.
January 17th, 2009 - 8:30 pm
Michael knows his mommy well, and knows where the line is. Not so much with me. But we have boxing gloves for those situations.
January 18th, 2009 - 5:08 am
Smart men.
January 18th, 2009 - 5:14 am
He must be thrilled he’s a boy, getting to do all the “good” stuff!
January 18th, 2009 - 8:39 am
@Melisa – rather that than dead.
@Seashore – now if he’d realize how much “fun” it is to remember to put the toilet seat down…