Little Big Man

Tommy, my two year old, came up to me this morning and said, “Dad, I’m not short. I’m a big boy!”

I asked him, “Who said you were short?”

He didn’t answer, but simply reiterated, in no uncertain terms, “I’m a BIG BOY!”

In fact, Tommy is not that tall, even by two-year old standards. Added to that is his primary standard of measure, his four-year old brother Chris, who is taller simply by nature of being two years older. Chris can reach things and do things that Tommy just can’t reach or do as well. Every day Tommy is confronted with the reality that he is not quite tall enough or fast enough to do the same things his brother can.

He is occasionally frustrated at this, and responds in typical two year old fashion – crying or throwing a fit. Occasionally he’ll react in other ways, like punching or kicking Chris – and he packs quite a wallop for a ‘little’ kid.

Usually he gets over it quickly and moves on, because he’s fundamentally a good-natured, happy boy.

It turns out the whole ‘short’ conversation resulted from my wife telling Tommy to hold her hand in the parking lot because he was too short for the drivers of cars to see him. Clearly a reasonable request and statement.

But I love his spirit. He refuses to see himself as short. In his mind he’s as big as anyone, as big as Chris – he’s a big boy. And no one is going to tell him otherwise.

I’ll tell you this much – I’m damn proud of my Big Boy.

It’s great to be The Family Man.