Last night, while babysitting for Audrey’s 4 boys, I got a great big slice of philosophical advice from her 3-year old, Alex.
I was helping him get into his pajamas when he reminded me that he needed new, clean underwear. I knew that meant another trip upstairs with these old bones of mine, so I asked politely, “Can you change your underwear in the morning?”
“No,” Alex answered. “I need my Batman underwear for the night.”
OK. I can understand that. So off I went upstairs to dig through his underwear drawer for Batman underwear. I found them rather quickly and headed downstairs again.
“Those aren’t them,” Alex announced when he saw the red waistband. “I want the black ones.”
OK. The black waistband must have some significance. So off I went up the stairs again. I dug through the drawer again. I spotted a black waistband on a pair of inside out undies and sighed with relief to see Batman staring at me from inside. “I found them, honey,” I practically sang.
“Thanks, Grandma,” he said with a big smile as I bounded into the living room. My heart overflowed with joy at having made him so happy with just a little pair of Batman undies with a black waistband.
“OK, buddy. Now let’s get your jammies on,” I said as I began to turn the Batman undies right-side out.
“I can do it myself,” he answered as he took the undies from my hand.
OK. He pulled off his old undies. He studied the Batman-with-the-black-waistband ones. He put them on. Inside out. And backwards.
“Buddy. Honey. Do you want me to help with your undies? They’re inside out. And backwards,” I said.
He seemed surprised that I asked.
“They’re perfect,” he answered. “Batman won’t mind.”
OK again. To be 3. To know with all certainty that your Batman undies with the black waistband, on inside out and backwards, is perfect, and that Batman won’t mind…
I guess I can toss out all that “underwear” advice that my mom gave me for all those years. You know, like they have to be “clean” and “presentable” in case of an emergency. But as I think about it, she never told me they must be right-side out and frontwards… hmmmmm.
Did your Mom ever give you “underwear” advice? All I know is that today I can’t stop singing a little refrain to my little Alex, my new underwear advisor… you know the disco hit… Diana Ross, 1980:
“Upside down
Boy, you turn me
Inside out
And round and round…”
I never understood the clean underwear thing. If you get hit by a car, and need such emergency assistance that they are cutting your clothes off and seeing your underwear, do you think the one thing going through your head , or the doctors, emt’s whoever’s is – look he/she peed herself when she was getting run over by a car
yet I still do it (and all my underwear is clean anyway, who would go out in dirty underwear to begin with)
I do not recall my mom giving me clothing advice of any sort. She often asked me for my advice when we went shopping together, though. 🙂 😀 🙂
Oh Mom… Alex definitely got the “need to have clean undies at night” from me – which was from YOU! Till this day I can hear you telling me when I was a little girl… “Get clean undies and undershirts girls!” I still do Mom… I still do! xoxo, Audrey
Oh Sharon, this is just too funny and I can so relate to this, having 3 grandsons. Alex is a smart little guy. Oh, and I can relate to the stairs as well and the bones cracking. I love the song you came up with. It is perfect and I remember it well. Yes, I remember my mom teaching us to always leave the house with clean underwear. My sister and I had days of the weeks undies.
He’s so cute and you’re a great sport to find him is underwear. The only advice my mom gave me was to make sure they didn’t have any holes in them.
too cute. 🙂 At least he knew he needed clean underwear, smart boy!