Hey, there baby
– who are you?
by Jacinta Nandi
My darling, gorgeous boy: I’m sorry, I don’t want to make you puke, but he really is gorgeous, delicious, a delicious pumpkin of a boy. Smug, glorious, radiant.
Beautiful.
After he’s eaten, or when he’s doing a poo, he looks like his German grandpa – his Opa – or like a critical bunny rabbit. We call him the critical bunny rabbit cake, we say it in German, der kritische Kaninchenkuchen. Or: we call him the Postpaket – a parcel. When we give him to each other we call: I have a parcel for you! Ich habe ein Postpaket für Sie!
Oh, my darling: skinny and yet plump, round and proud like a king – or, better said, a sultan. I love watching him – especially when his satisfied little face floats off to sleep, his eyes drifting back into his head, his mouth wide open in a lewd, crude, drunken leer.
Yeah, sometimes he is drunk!
A drunken sailor.
Oh, my gorgeous, gorgeous darling boy: did I mention yet that he’s a fluffy little bunny rabbit? Not a critical one – but a toy one, velvet and fluffy, soft and floppy like a bunny rabbit, boneless, his paws padding my face in the diluted sunshine.
Only some days he is not a bunny rabbit AT ALL! Some days he is a politician – angry, earnest, blunt. And on some days he is sceptical but kind – a judge perhaps?
But when he drinks at my breast he’s a medieval knight.
A pumpkin, a bunny rabbit cake, his grandpa, a postpaket, a king, a sultan, a drunken sailor, a toy rabbit, a politician, a judge and a medieval knight.
And always he’s my boy,
My darling darling gorgeous baby boy,
My little Kindlein,
My darling,
Mein Liebling,
My little boy,
My prince,
My ANGEL,
Three weeks and five days old and already you own the world,
MY BABY: I LOVE YOU.
“A gender-equal society would be one where the word ‘gender’ does not exist: where everyone can be themselves.”*
I’ve always been aware of gender conditioning and actively tried to combat any lingering prejudices or stereotypes in my own parenting, even down to encouraging dolls with my boys when they were little. It’s great to read people writing about gender issues they’re experiencing with their kids. For too long these subjects have been discouraged or silenced. I’d love to publish some more creative writing on this topic, especially if you are struggling with a child who actively tries to move away from gender normative preferences. A society where everyone can be themselves – thanks Gloria for those aspirational words.
* Gloria Steinem