We’ve joked about Caleb being a “ladies man” ever since he was a 4 year old in the middle of a crowd of elementary school girls, happily playing Littlest Pet Shop, letting them paint his nails, and being a willing playmate for any of their girlie games. He’s always managed to fit in well with girls and as we’ve moved from place to place has had as many friends who are girls as are boys. Last year I took him to a birthday party and it was 6 girls and Caleb. No big deal to him. Even this year, as a 5th grader, when there’s usually still a giant divide between the genders, Caleb has managed to form tight friendships on both sides of the aisle.
The other day he came home from school and went immediately to the kitchen to grab a snack. He says, “Hi” and I call back, “Hi baby! How was school?” Instead of the, “great mom. I don’t have any homework” that I expect, I hear, “I’m not talking to you.” Well who are you talking to since there is no one else in the house? “I’m on the phone. D said to call her as soon as I got home.” Excuse me?!?
Or I get the “Mom I need you to buy me more minutes because K said I need to call her.” My baby is 10. What sort of brazen hussies are other people raising these days? (Just kidding. These girls are perfectly nice. Maybe.) I’ve explained that just because girls say that he needs to call them, I am the boss and he needs to at least acknowledge my existence before running to do their bidding.
Which brings me to last night. It was Calvin’s birthday (yay 16!) and I had boys downstairs eating junk food and shooting each other on the xbox, other kids upstairs racing cars on the wii or watching movies and I had retreated to a quiet corner of my bedroom. I think eventually the question was asked, “Where is Bob? (Caleb)” and when we finally tracked him down, he was in one of the kids’ bedrooms, Skyping (video chat) with a girl from school.
When I asked him how he logged into Skype because I couldn’t remember our user name and password he said, “Oh, I opened my own account. My username is BossBoy1234.” Oh, Lord. I’m going to need serious help with this one. And a parental controls tutorial. Stat.