Sit Ubu, Sit

At the beginning of the school year, Shawn Joaquin aligned himself with two of the more outgoing boys in class. This had both its plusses and minuses - Shawn Joaquin can be quite reticent, and his admiration of these boys would sometimes drive him to try new things and other times to try bad things to impress them. But at least he was getting out.

I recently asked him if he still played with them, and his answer was a simple "no". 

"Well, who DO you play with?"

"I play with Diego and Marisol."

This thrilled me, since both kids are well-known to me and as sweet and innocent as Shawn Joaquin.  And Shawn Joaquin plans on marrying Marisol, whom we would gladly welcome as a daughter-in-law.

"What do you do when you play?"

"We play house."

"And what do you DO when you play house?"

"Well...Marisol is the mom. Diego is the dad. And I'm the DOG! AWHOOOOOOOO! I bark and howl a lot, but I don't get to talk." 

With that the complex reality of preschool social hierarchy was made somewhat clearer to me. And I had to remind myself that in our house it's the dog who never gets in trouble, is always fed on time, comes when called, and is generally well-regarded and the least likely to fling poop or yogurt on the floor. So you go for it, Shawn Joaquin. I mean...sit boy, sit. Good dog.