Silly boys . . . tricks are for girls

Annie came up to me yesterday after a full day of playing and swimming and rested her head on my shoulder. Every once in a while she needs a cuddle - O.K. - it's all the time she needs a cuddle. She's a very touchy-feely little person. I say that she doesn't think it's real unless she's felt it.

So she's giving me a cuddle and talking my ear off at the same time. "Mommy, I love you," and I repeat back that I love her, too. And then she gives the clincher, "Mommy, I feel like a boy." That takes me a second to process, but I've always been told that you need to let kids explain themselves. What you think is not always what they mean. So I ask her to tell me about feeling like a boy. "Mommy, I feel silly, just like a boy."

Then she starts giggling and making funny sounds and saying "poop" just because she knows it drives Mommy mad. I tell her that girls can be silly, too. She doesn't believe me - probably because Daddy is so much sillier than Mommy.

So, I think I need to take silly lessons. I think I'm going to take them from Annie - she's the silliest girl I know.