So the letter for show and tell on Friday was U, meaning, bring in something that starts with U. I love these impossible letters. What are you supposed to do with X, if you don't own a toy xylophone? (I realize everyone probably owns a toy xylophone. It's one of those things you would not necessarily have chosen for your child but that your child ends up acquiring anyway. Like temporary tattoos.) Really I think it should be acceptable to just write the letter on a piece of paper, in marker or something, and bring that in. Kiddo decided that his letter U should be a unicorn, because he knew that I could supply one.
I had a big love for unicorns when I was a kid. (This is how it shakes out. Regular-type girls love horses. Geek girls love unicorns.) Unicorn bedsheets. Unicorn necklaces. Unicorn T-shirts. Ceramic unicorns and unicorns full of bubble bath formula. Unicorn prints on my wall. "The Last Unicorn" on VHS. Unfortunately most of that has vanished with time. What's left, mainly, is my old My Little Ponies, some of which happen to be unicorns. How they all got in my closet is beyond me. They appear to have snuck in along with the Cabbage Patch Kid.
Anyway kiddo requested a rainbow unicorn. I have no idea what prompted that -- I'm going to blame "Dora the Explorer," because he's been watching it lately, and because I can -- but it just so happens that I have one. Her name is Windy. You can see her here. There's quite a bit of devotion to My Little Pony out there.
I'm not entirely sure how many 6-year-old boys ask to bring a rainbow unicorn to school for show and tell. I don't know that rainbow unicorns exist on the same planet as most 6-year-old boys. DH did gently try to explain that this was more of a girl toy, but kiddo didn't care. Well, shrug then. I gave him the unicorn.
He was quite taken with her, except that her mane kept getting in her eyes and that bothered him. But he took her to school, and that night she acquired a space on his bed, next to Cowboy Woody and whichever Matchbox car he'd chosen for night duty. The next day he asked to swap her out for a different pony, because her hair was still in her eyes. (The '80s ponies did all have that Veronica Lake thing going on.) I gave him a different pony, and he was happy.
And the next day, we attended the Fairy and Pirate Festival. No, really. This town event started off as the Fairy Festival, but clearly this was not gender-inclusive enough so it was amended. Kiddette wore her pink fairy wings. Kiddo wore his two-year-old pirate costume. They blended right in with a sea of little girls in sparkly dresses and wings and boys in bandannas and the occasional eye patch. Some of the business folk and craft vendors manning the tents, endearingly, also wore wings. There was a "bounce castle" -- okay, no, it was a bounce house, talk about inflation -- and a big slide and a treasure hunt and games and dance demonstrations. You have not seen cute until you've seen Irish step dancers performing with wings on.
I have to say, occasionally I am puzzled at how thoroughly geek culture has gone mainstream. Adults walking around in fairy wings. Summer blockbusters riddled with superheroes. "Star Trek" movies that actually make money. Teen romance novels full of vampires and werewolves. It's all very strange. Don't people know that only geeks are supposed to like this stuff?
Now how is the next generation of geeks supposed to rebel against the mainstream? Read "Babysitters Club" novels and play Scrabble?
My point is, it's weird. But kiddo and kiddette don't care about such things. They just liked the "bounce castle." And, well, I would too.
I had a big love for unicorns when I was a kid. (This is how it shakes out. Regular-type girls love horses. Geek girls love unicorns.) Unicorn bedsheets. Unicorn necklaces. Unicorn T-shirts. Ceramic unicorns and unicorns full of bubble bath formula. Unicorn prints on my wall. "The Last Unicorn" on VHS. Unfortunately most of that has vanished with time. What's left, mainly, is my old My Little Ponies, some of which happen to be unicorns. How they all got in my closet is beyond me. They appear to have snuck in along with the Cabbage Patch Kid.
Anyway kiddo requested a rainbow unicorn. I have no idea what prompted that -- I'm going to blame "Dora the Explorer," because he's been watching it lately, and because I can -- but it just so happens that I have one. Her name is Windy. You can see her here. There's quite a bit of devotion to My Little Pony out there.
I'm not entirely sure how many 6-year-old boys ask to bring a rainbow unicorn to school for show and tell. I don't know that rainbow unicorns exist on the same planet as most 6-year-old boys. DH did gently try to explain that this was more of a girl toy, but kiddo didn't care. Well, shrug then. I gave him the unicorn.
He was quite taken with her, except that her mane kept getting in her eyes and that bothered him. But he took her to school, and that night she acquired a space on his bed, next to Cowboy Woody and whichever Matchbox car he'd chosen for night duty. The next day he asked to swap her out for a different pony, because her hair was still in her eyes. (The '80s ponies did all have that Veronica Lake thing going on.) I gave him a different pony, and he was happy.
And the next day, we attended the Fairy and Pirate Festival. No, really. This town event started off as the Fairy Festival, but clearly this was not gender-inclusive enough so it was amended. Kiddette wore her pink fairy wings. Kiddo wore his two-year-old pirate costume. They blended right in with a sea of little girls in sparkly dresses and wings and boys in bandannas and the occasional eye patch. Some of the business folk and craft vendors manning the tents, endearingly, also wore wings. There was a "bounce castle" -- okay, no, it was a bounce house, talk about inflation -- and a big slide and a treasure hunt and games and dance demonstrations. You have not seen cute until you've seen Irish step dancers performing with wings on.
I have to say, occasionally I am puzzled at how thoroughly geek culture has gone mainstream. Adults walking around in fairy wings. Summer blockbusters riddled with superheroes. "Star Trek" movies that actually make money. Teen romance novels full of vampires and werewolves. It's all very strange. Don't people know that only geeks are supposed to like this stuff?
Now how is the next generation of geeks supposed to rebel against the mainstream? Read "Babysitters Club" novels and play Scrabble?
My point is, it's weird. But kiddo and kiddette don't care about such things. They just liked the "bounce castle." And, well, I would too.
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