Saturday, January 3, 2009

Ty Bebe

I have a six year old nephew. I hesitate to say that we are close because, more often than not, we do not live in the same place. However, being the only nephew I've got, the lil bugger has grown on me. He has some issues with listening and can be a bit of a brat from time to time, but how do you not love this guy?




If you can't tell, we are two sassholes in a pod. This kid has a promising snark-filled future. Part of this snarkiness stems from Ty's unwillingness to accept unrealistic forms of children's entertainment. For Christmas, I got Ty a book called Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late. The basic gist of the "Pigeon" books is that this rather argumentative bird would like to participate in a range of activities that his owner has explicitly told you as the reader are off limits. So, the reader can't let the pigeon drive the bus, eat a hot dog, stay up late etc.

Now, for no reason other than their obvious deliciousness, the Pigeon has a thing for hot dogs and within the text of the "Stay Up Late" book, the Pigeon requests a "hot dog party". Before long, the Pigeon dozes off with his stuffed bunny cradled in his arms. On the last page of the book, the Pigeon dreams of the aforementioned "hot dog party" and he and his stuffed friend are a chowing down.

Cute, right? Well, Ty certainly didn't think so. He was into the story up until that last page and then he abruptly sat up and looked at me.

"WHAT is that?!?!"

"Its his hot dog party buddy. He's dreaming about it."

"I know. But that bunny is eating a hot dog!"

"Ok...."

"Stuffed bunnies don't have teeth. And they can't eat hot dogs. This book is weird."

Now, I am still confused as to why he didn't object to a disease ridden bird having a stuffed toy in the first place or even why the pigeon had teeth as well, but he was clearly very upset at the prospect of fluffy toys with teeth. That is Ty for you though. This is the same kid that balked during the "Baby Mine" sequence of "Dumbo" because "hippos can't sleep underwater".

He really doesn't miss a beat. His full name is Tyrique (trust me, I agree, weird name), but we all call him Ty for short. Well, apparently my lil buddy has discovered irony and, in turn, has decided he does not like that nick name anymore. You see, Ty is not the best with the shoe strings yet. And, being the highly observant kid he is, he has concluded his nickname only draws attention to his shortcomings.

I love that kid.

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