Tomboys

Did you know that you can play Go Fish for money? Kind of similar to poker, at least I think so. I walked into Meredith's afterschool program, signed her out and then walked over to a table where she was surrounded by boys. As I tapped her on the shoulder, she was in the process of cleaning house-yes you read this right-she had taken the boys to the cleaners with the Monopoly money and a wild game of Go Fish. Last night on the way home from the kennel club meeting, she was going into great depth about the rules for the game and how it got started. I was totally lost and all I could do was giggle. The imagination of a child is a wonderful thing. Did I also tell you she's a good luck piece when we do raffles? Never mind, that's another post.

The running joke in our house is that Meredith is a 30 year old trapped in the body of a 9 year old. She's pretty proud of it too. She is more then happy to share all the knowledge she gains from eavesdropping on the conversations people have--those people thinking that she has no clue. Warning-she usually has more clues then most adults. In many ways she's her father's daughter-it's almost impossible to live in this house at times-I have the first addition encyclopedia of useless knowledge(aka David) and then the 2nd addition(Meredith) in residence!

We have lots of conversations in the 'burb. Captive audience maybe? The radio is broke so otherwise you drive in silence. Last night was no exception. The question posed was why in the world do I always find you playing with the boys? All 7 or 8 of the boys at the afterschool program are at one of the tables doing legos or matchbox cars or playing Go Fish for fake money. Right in the middle is this petite blond girl. The other girls are at the opposite end of the table or at the other end of the room. Meredith is a big hit with the boys-she has a huge remote control monster truck. Yes it was a Christmas present and yes, she was the one who had it on her list for Santa. Anyway, why does she play with the boys? Her reply-the girls are brats. Plain and simple. They don't like to get dirty either. But you know boys can be brats at times too--they just get over it. That last comment, well, I about lost it. Lucky we were coming to a stop sign so I didn't laugh ourselves off the road.

She's a tomboy at heart. Loves to dress up, but you do have to remind her to keep her legs together when sitting in a chair. She loves mud, picking dried weeds and presenting them as a lovely flower arrangements-I have several vases filled with those at home. Rather wear her flipflops to the creek then her wellies. She and her big brother regularly travel to that creek in search of creatures. Though the girlie girl appears when it comes to touching those creatures-she hates bugs or anything slimy. I have a fish tank full of gold fish and one lone sun fish rescued from the creek one afternoon. Along with snails and baby crawfish. We did have the frogs from one recent adventure but when they started to jump out and the dogs tried eating them, I suggested it was a perfect time for relocation. One afternoon it was the capture of the snapping turtle-there's a story for another day-that's a David adventure.

What it comes down to is that I hope we all have a little tomboy in us. And as far as girls being brats--take a lesson from the boys and Meredith, just get over it!

Off to the National FFA convention to see Alec get his American Degree. Have a great weekend!

Later gators~~~~
C