The other day we were checking out at Walgreens and the cashier repeated the same comment she has made to him over months and many times on this particular visit. "He's so cute." Zane hid behind me in the checkout line while she repeated it two or three more times. She was sort of talking to him as if he is a baby, tone and ways she was trying to engage him. He tugged on my shirt to signal me that he wanted to whisper something in my ear. I bent down and he said "Why does she keep saying I'm cute. I'm not a baby. I'm a big boy. That's what you say to babies." I explained that big boys and even men are sometimes cute and people can't help it because he's truly so cute. He then went to hide behind a display as the cashier and another older woman started up again. I told them he didn't like to be called cute because he thinks babies are cute but not big boys and he's a big boy. They understood.
Then yesterday, after cleaning the great room windows, inside and out, and baseboards, we went to pick up Vanessa. Most of the furniture was pushed to the center of the room and curtains were down to be washed. Vanessa walked in and immediately excalimed "Whoa! What happened here? What are you doing, Mom?" I responded "I've been cleaning." I noticed Zane deflate and sigh "Mom . . ." He hid his eyes and mumbled something. I bent down to ask what was wrong and he replied "But I was also cleaning. I helped you clean." All I could do was hug him long and apologize that I said "I was cleaning" instead of "We were cleaning." I then told Vanessa that Zane helped do all the hard work and he did it well.
This morning as we were dragging the trash and recycling cans around back of the house, Zane wouldn't let me help him. The can is three or four times bigger than him but he was determined to do the task from beginning to end. I don't ask him to do this stuff. He asks me to move out of the way so he can do it.
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus" ~ Philippians 2: 3-5
