This little gem of a question was asked to me by 5 year old Riley, my friend Jenna's offspring. I loved it. I loved it because it was so simple. To him, what was lacking in my daughter was not a few brain cells, eyes that go to the side and not up, or any kind of 'look'. To him, she was only different because she does not have a penis. Like any girl would be!
Annelies and I stayed with my friend Jenna and her to kiddo's, the aforementioned Riley and 1 1/2 year old Jace. For 3 days, Annelies basked in the glory of being loved and admired by Riley. Annlies took a bath with Riley, Riley fed Annelies her bottle, he tried to get her down a play slide, helped her play on a toy horse, and told her every 15 minutes that she is beautiful. Jace took it all in stride, but you could kind of tell at times he was thinking: Hey, waitaminutehere, I was the baby...what happpened?!?!
Riley spent the last night we were there at his Dad's place. The next day, when he talked to his mommy, he told her to tell Annelies good bye from him, and to tell her she is beautiful and he loves her. And don't forget to tell her she is beautiful! Yes, I admit that my heart kind of stung at times, knowing that when they are 15 years down the road, most likely she will not be getting that kind of admiration from 'typical' boys her age. That is why we enjoy it now, as much as we can. I must also say, though, that when I saw 17 year old Chris with Annelies (when I visited Robin- see previous post) I thought: "Heck, if Annelies meets someone half as sweet and wonderful as Chris, she will be a lucky girl!"
