Monday night

My parents took Samuel out for a special birthday dinner and lego shopping excursion (more on that later) so Marc and I had dinner with Matthew and Renee. 

Matthew "Boys is stronger than girls"
Renee "yeah boys is stronger than girls, but girls is smarter than boys"
Matthew "yeah girls is smarter"
Renee "girls is smart and boys is strong"
Me "some girls are stronger than boys, and some boys are smarter than girls. Boys and girls can be smart and strong"
Matthew "boys is strong and girls is smart"
Renee "yeah"
Matthew "I like broccoli. I want soy sauce for my rice"
Renee "I don't like the pepper on my salmon, only the pink"

I'm not sure what to make of this - I know they are four, gender identification is big, comparisons are big, all part of figuring out who they are and how they and everything else fits in the world around them. Matthew does have more physical strength, Renee is crazy smart, so in some ways they are right. But I'm not ok with the generalization and the comparison, my feminist self cringed, while fully recognizing the reality of four year olds. The topic came and went, and we'll be listening to "Free To Be" this weekend. 

Now about Samuel and the Lego. My parents took him out for dinner and to buy his birthday present. I knew he'd want a big $100+ lego set (Hoth Battle from StarWars) so I suggested to my mom that she establish a budget for him - any lego set less than $40 or $50 - to limit his selection, show value of money, etc. A couple hours later I got this email from my dad. Subject: "Happy Guy". Email text "budget exceeded, everyone is happy". 

From: Eduardo Lulka [mailto:elulka@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, November 19, 2012 08:07 PM
To: Silvia Lulka
Subject: Muchacho feliz  

Presupuesto excedido, todos felices
Eduardo

Samuel got his 4th lego set for this birthday, 2nd huge one, and he still has another en route from Bubbah and Zaida. He also bought a small set for Matthew "he already has this one but he lost all of it so I know he'll love it" and a Friends lego for Renee. When I told Samuel my dad could come build the lego set with him he responded "no, I'll build this one all by myself. It's a whole building and you can close it and tuck it in at night". 

At least we're done. One of the huge sets was bought on loan against the money he'll get from his EchoAge birthday party in a couple weeks. Maybe we should have made him sign and I O U. 

.