A ‘Typical’ Man?

June 24, 2006 | Category: Uncategorized

Ahhh! There is an immense difference between waking up at 5 a.m. vs. 11 a.m. … In fact, if the house phone did not ring, I would still have slept for another 3 hours … Last week was my dad’s first week back after being away for months…so last weekend, my brother and his family decided to sleep over. (I’m still getting used to the fact of more than usual activity in the house … his happens when you live on your own for an extended period of time and you no longer can do the things you used to do or not simply out of consideration for others living with you now!) I woke up to the sounds of my 3-year-old nephew loudly begging Baha to take him out to the yard to play on the swings…not even 5 minutes later, he was back in crying! I tried going back to sleep, but I couldn’t … ugh! so much for my last day of sleeping in, I thought… But that’s ok Layla, you can sleep over anytime! seriously, like anytime! And yes, you can call anytime, seriously anytime … after all, who woke me up this morning?!

Anyway, I got up … washed my face … brushed my teeth … and went downstairs … Ahmad was playing in the family room, his father laying on the couch (yeah, it doesn’t take him that long to fall asleep), my father watching TV … I asked Ahmad why he was crying … he told me that he fell on his bottom (and he started pointing to his bottom) while playing on the swing :grin: … I started laughing and asked if he was ok! He told me he was ok and that it was not funny so I shouldn’t be laughing. My father at this point had taken a cigarette out and started to light it…Ahmad turns to him and says, ”Ceedo, don’t smoke!” My father said, ” Just one last time, ok Ahmad!” Ahmad repeated, ”Don’t smoke Ceedo!” I asked Ahmad why he doesn’t want ceedo to smoke … He said, “Becasue it makes me sneeze.” Awwww! I asked him if I can smoke. He said, ‘No.’ … I asked, “Why?” he said, “Because you’re a girl.”

What??? a 3-year-old boy telling me I cannot smoke because I’m a girl??? Where did he get that from? I asked him where he heard that and from whom … he said, “No one.” I kept insisting, he kept saying “No one.” I kept insisting even more, so he said: “Omar told me.” Now Omar is my other 3-year-old Nephew! :grin: What??? I know Ahmad was just making that up … But I found that interesting that neither Jeneen, Iman, Mona, nor Hanan (my nieces) had anything to do with that piece of information. At this point, my brother was getting agitated because I was being loud and asked me to keep my voice down as he is trying to sleep. I told him to wake up … his son is being a typical man! :P … Seriously, what prompted Ahmad to answer with that? I don’t believe his parents raised him any differently than they raised his older sister…and quite honestly, I have not heard anything of such coming from his sister who is less than 2 years older than he is. Out of curiosity and how he might react, I think next time I see Ahmad, I am going to light a cigarette!