Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Black relatives by TJ

TJ has several relatives with the same name.  To start with, he has two uncle Ben's.

Last week we told TJ, "Uncle Ben is coming to watch you tonight."  He responded, "Which Uncle Ben?"

This seemed like a reasonable question.  So I responded, "Daddy's brother, Uncle Ben.  Not Uncle Ben and Aunt Kim."  TJ responded, without missing a beat, "Oh, the black Uncle Ben."

Really?  Ok.  So, he needs to differentiate.  I responded, "And what about Uncle Ben and Aunt Kim?"

TJ replied, "That is the white Uncle Ben."

Ok.  So...clearly he is two, and while our relatives are not of different ethnicities, we are ok with this.  We decided maybe its because Uncle Ben (the musician) wears alot of black clothes, and the other Uncle Ben is a river boat captain, and so he wears alot of white.   Moving on...

On Sunday morning, TJ had a play thing he was pretending was a phone.  He says, "Mommy...Kevin is on the phone."  I replied, "Which Kevin, Uncle Kevin or your cousin Kevin?"  To which TJ replied, "The WHITE Kevin."

(at this point he is exasperated with me)

I ask, "Which Kevin is the 'white' Kevin?"  He says, "Bradley and Kevin." (this is his cousin).  So I ask, "Who is Kate's daddy Kevin?" (the uncle), and TJ replied, "The BLACK Kevin." 

Uncle Kevin said he prefers to be just called the "godfather", but he will go with whatever.

Ok.

I wondered about me, but when I asked who I am, TJ replied, "You are MOMMY."  He was so annoyed that I even asked.

Cannot wait to see what he tells us next.