Nels has very specific preferences and plans. For instance after his late nap today while sitting on the counter he directed my husband to putting in hairclips and ponytail, with about four hundred colored bobbypins. He was very dissatisfied when he felt up for the ponytail and at first my husband thought he wanted it lower. But then Nels made it clear he wanted it up high but long, down his back - "just like Sophie!" - and when Ralph couldn't make this happen my son threw back his head and wailed.

You may be thinking my son has a touch of the femme but, a few minutes later, he also told Ralph about looking forward to growing hair on his penis.

Later, removing all his clips for the bath we exchange the following.

Me: "You looked real pretty today, Nels."
Sophie: "Boys don't look pretty."
Me: "Yes they do. Johnny Depp is pretty. Christian Bale is pretty."
Sophie: "Martin Luther King is pretty."*
Nels: "Chris is pretty."
Me: "Chris who?" ... "Chris Brummel?"
Nels: "Yeah. He has a beard. He has a white hat." Then Nels says a bunch of gibberish about bowling and basketball which I later realize is Wii-related.** "Yeah. He's pretty."

So the recap. Long, beautiful girlie hair. And pubes. And a big bushy beard. And the Wii. I guess it all makes sense.

* Thanks for the one-upsmanship in making me look really shallow, Sophie.

** From a visit in December. Coincidentally it's Chris' birthday today and he re-launched his rather awesome personal website.

Labels: friends, girl life, Nels