The Life of a Chicken

We were at Whole Foods in Manhattan shopping, looking at the meat section, poultry in particular. M-ito looked down at the remains of a whole chicken, de-feathered, naked, small. I picked it up and M-ito took it from me. He looked closer at it.

“That chicken’s life, is over,” he said.

Mom-ita and I both laughed.

“It sure is,” I said. It sure is. It’s amazing to me how differently M-ito sees the world. I take these things for granted. I see a food product. He sees a live animal that has passed into the spirit world.

M-ito looked at us both, not understanding, then just went on looking at the life, and death, around us.

The 6-Year Old Grapevine

Everybody’s teeth are falling out. They are getting loose, wiggling, getting played with by tongues and fingers, and when all else fails, they are getting plucked. M-ito’s are not wiggling yet – though he swears they are.

“See Mom-ita? Look Dad-dito.” Then he shows us by moving it back and forth with his finger – only they’re not really moving. Maybe he feels like they are. I know he’s disappointed they are not because a few of his friend’s teeth are. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a big deal. He’s in such a rush to grow up. Mom-ita and I tell him we see how loose his teeth are and he smiles. 

Yesterday he said, “Can I have carrots and an apple?”

Mom-ita said, “Sure.”

I looked at her. “Why’s he eating carrots and an apple? He doesn’t like them. He won’t eat them.”

“Oh, he’ll eat them,” Mom-ita said.

“I don’t get it.”

Mom-ita leaned close to me. “He’s been talking to his friends and they told him if he eats apples and carrots his teeth will come out.” 

“I wish he wasn’t in such a rush.”

“Me too,” Mom-ita said with a sigh.

“Do we let him have ‘em?” I asked, knowing Mom-ita would already have made a decision on this and I was simply playing catch-up.

“Why not?” she said. “At least he’ll be eating something other than mac and cheese, pizza, or corn dogs.” 

I nodded then grimaced – remembering what it was like to have my teeth come out oh so long ago. Ouch – apples and carrots. 

Abe Lincoln Day

“What did you learn about today, M-ito?” I asked on our way to get Pizza after school. The snow was coming down hard with a covering of snow on the sidewalk.

“Well… we learned about Abe Lincoln because it’s his birthday today.”

“What did you learn about him?”

“Do you know about him?”

I nodded. “Can you tell me?”

“Sure. Abe, what was his name again?”

“Lincoln.”

“Lincoln. Well, he was the sixteenth president of the United States and he freed the slaves.”

“You know what slaves are?” I asked.

“We learned all about them. You see, back then white people from the bottom part of the United States thought they were smarter than black people so they put them on ships from Africa and brought them here and owned them. The white people made them do all the hard work. They weren’t allowed to wear shoes and they were given water but no bread. They weren’t given any good food. They were called the bare-foots and the white people were the heavy-boots.”

“It was pretty mean wasn’t it.”

“Yeah, it was. We played slaves in class with Ms. S an owner and the rest of us pretending to be slaves in chains. Ms. A played one of us and we all escaped. But you know what they did to slaves when they escaped?”

“What?”

“If slaves escaped they got whipped – just like when someone whips a horse. It hurts them a lot. Whips shouldn’t be made then because they hurt people like that.”

“I agree. So what else do you know about Abe Lincoln?”

“Well there was a man, named William Boom – “

“Boom?”

“Boom. And when Abe Lincoln was at a theatre watching a play William Boom came up to him – snuck up on him – and shooted him with a gun.”

“Shooted?”

“Shooted. He killed him. Dad-dito?”

“What M-ito.”

“Is William Boom still here?”

“No. He died a long time ago.”

“Okay.”

Later that night, M-ito repeated the whole story for Mom-ita.

“You remember when you learned about Martin Luthor King?” she asked M-ito.He nodded.

“Well one hundred years later and the blacks were still fighting for their rights here in the United States.”

“Yeah. That’s right. “ 

I could see my son’s mind at work connecting dots on a large poster-board of life. For once I was home to see and hear it.

Socks Redux

After a month of complaining about socks that were too tight I bought M-ito socks that were big on him – at least two sizes. He wore them on and off for two weeks. A few days ago he finally admitted they were too big.

“These socks are a little big,” were his exact words.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

He nodded.

I got closure on the sock episode. I never would have believed it. He still refuses to put his socks one unless he’s by the front door, but I got closure. 

M-itoism: Electricity

We’re walking to school and M-ito asks, “Dad-dito, when you were a kid was there electricity?”

“Yes,” I said. “I’m not that old.” Though it feels like it some days.

“Were there computers?”

“Yes and no. Not like you have today. I mean, there were computers but nothing that you and I could use. Well… I guess for all intents and purposes I’d have to say… no.”

“Wow.”