No, No Sweet Tobias

by Jeanne Patton

My name is Tobias, and I live with my mommy in a little house out in the country.

I love my mommy, and sometimes I want to do the things that she does.

Last week she was painting her toenails and I asked her if she could paint mine next. Then my mommy said: “no, no sweet Tobias, boys don’t paint their toenails, only girls do.”

Then my mommy was putting make-up on in the bathroom and I asked her if I could put some make-up on too. She told me: “no, no sweet Tobias, boys don’t wear make-up, only girls do.”

Later on that day, we were getting ready to go to the store and my mommy grabbed her purse. I asked her if I could bring one too and she said: “no, no sweet Tobias, boys don’t have purses, only girls do.”

I was feeling sad because I wanted to be like my mommy, but I couldn’t do everything she did. I went to my room and sat on my bed.

My mommy came up and asked me what was wrong. I told her why I was sad, and she smiled. Then she said: “There might be a few things that you can’t do with me, but there are lots of things that we can do together.”

She told me that we could read together, play hide-and-seek together, and even sing along to my favorite song together. I got really excited because she was right!

So we spent the rest of the day reading, playing hide-and-seek, and singing together.

Last night my mommy took me out for ice cream and she asked if she could have a bite. I giggled and told her: “no, no sweet mommy, girls can’t have ice cream, only boys can!”

Copyright Jeanne Patton, 2010

The author lives in Ohio, USA.

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