who are we today, and what shall we become?

Yesterday at Pemberley's well baby checkup, I asked the nurse, as usual, to allow me to pray over the vaccine before it was administered.  To my surprise, the nurse joined right in!  She prayed in Jesus' name, and asked blessings on my baby girl.  That was a nice extra lift to the day.

I have long been in the practice of doing what I believe is right, even if it's weird.  It was nice to find a kindred spirit amongst our pediatrician's medical staff.

Where this habit comes most visibly to play, though, is in the ways of the Pipster.  Pip is an unabashed player of dress up.  Often Pip is Princess Fiona.  When he is Fiona, I am Shrek, Pemberley is Donkey, and Papa is Gingy.  This habit of assigning roles to his family members started this summer when I took him to see Once Upon a Mattress.  Pip became Princess Winifred.  I was Lady Larkin, his sister was Sir Harry, and Papa was Prince Dauntless.

After taking up watching the non-violent episodes of Hercule Poirot with his Papa over the holidays, Pip began to assign all new roles for us.  He likes to be either Vera Rossakoff (Double Clue) or "Princess" Bridgid (Royal Ruby).  I am either Captain Hastings or Poirot, alternately with Papa.  Pemberley is sometimes Miss Lemon, sometimes Inspector Japp.

You will notice that gender does not signify when it comes to assigning roles.  Rather, the story is the primary concern.  Well, the story and the wig Pip likes to wear.  He is usually a princess because he knows princesses have long hair in stories.

There are some folks who think my son is socially deviant, but they are rarer than they assume.  In fact, very few people are uncomfortable with Pip.  We get about 5% "Is that his real hair?!" comments,  15% "Awesome hair, dude!" comments (in the 80's hair band theme), 75% "How cute" or equivalent smiles, 3% envying looks from other little kids who want a wig, and 2% middle aged women wondering if our son is gay because they don't know that gender and sexuality are not the same thing, and even if they were, that my son is three and therefore not subject to such questions, being far too young for sex and far too imaginative to give a care.  More often than not, the few weirdos who think I'm socially deviant for letting my son be so are the only ones uncomfortable with Pip's dress up.  They are so self absorved that they believe everyone else will think and judge as they.  Bless their hearts.

In all of these varied reactions to Pip's self expression, there has only been one time when Pip was upset or uncomfortable.  Over Christmas break, when all four of us were at the grocery store together, an old woman approached to inquire about Pip's hair.  She made the facile assumption that we had two little girls (though Pip's clothes are all boy).  When she walked off, Pip expressed his displeasure.  "She said we have two wonderful little girls, but she was wrong.  There are two wonderful little girls, and two wonderful boys. There's Dauntless and Sir Harry (pointing to Papa and Pem), and me and Lady Larkin."  The lady had not taken time to understand the story, which was Pip's primary concern.

I think that Pip's understanding of the primacy of story is the best groundwork for living a Christian life that he could have.  Even though I could not have anticipated how he would express this truth, I'm glad he's expressing it.  When Pip gets to be a teenager preparing for Confirmation, he will ask me about his faith formation.  I'll pull out the photos and say, "Remember the wig?"