While Waiting for the Bus

K and I were talking about Eli this morning while waiting for the bus. She was missing her early morning cuddles with one of our cats, Jonah, who now resides on top of the refrigerator as long as Eli is out (I promise you, the cats get all kinds of time during the day when Eli is crated and at night when we shut him in a bedroom to have their freedom!)

Anywho-

K wanted to know if Eli had learned the 'down' command yet. I told her we're still working on it. "Does he know 'beg'?" she asked. I explained that no, it wasn't something he knew and I wasn't likely to teach him that one because I don't like begging dogs. We talked for a few minutes about how he's doing a little better going into his crate each morning (it helps that I give him a kong toy filled with frozen peanut butter) and I said, "He's really a very good boy, isn't he?"

K replied, "a girl/boy you mean."

"No, Eli is a boy," I said.

"Nu uh," K replied adamantly. "Eli-JAH. Boy AND girl."

I tried to understand the rationalization for that one, but didn't get it figured out. I tried to explain that Elijah was a boy. He has all boy parts, no girl parts. Just like boys are boys and girls are girls. No one is both (I know there are exceptions, but at seven she doesn't need to know that!)

She said, "NU UH! There are tomboys!!"

I explained that a tomboy was a GIRL who just sometimes ACTED like a boy. That she really was a girl, with all girl parts.

I was spitting in the wind.

"NU UH!! I play basketball. That makes me a girl/boy."

I explained that all kinds of girls play basketball, that they even have a professional women's basketball league. That they are still girls, no matter what sport they play. This did not convince her.

"Well, I play FOOTBALL, too!!" At which point her bus pulled up and she got out of my car screaming, "Girls don't play football!! Girls don't play football!!"

I wonder what she told the bus driver.