Mr. Repair Man

Ethan loves getting dressed up in his costumes. It's the most frequent type of play for both kids. Lately, Ethan has been all about the tool man costume. He has a bright orange hard hat, a tool belt, and a tool box with all kinds of tools in it.

He was on "the repair man" for at least 3 weeks. He stayed in character for most of the day, fixing all of our doors, windows and air vents. He was very serious about it. He asked me what my other name was besides Mom. My name has always been tough for little kids to say. I think it's because there is no consonant sound in the middle, that mid-vowel shift, and the uncommon stress on the second syllable instead of the first. "Lee'-uhn," he'd say. I didn't like him to call me by my first name because I want him to use formal address with adults elsewhere. So, he agreed to call me "Ms. or Ma'am."

Specifically, he would make sure I understood from time to time that he was not Ethan but the repair man. I understood. He'd slip and call me Mom but quickly correct himself' "--ma'am." The repair man act went on for so long that I almost worried a little bit. I corrected him when he called Mimi by her first name as well, and I threw in an additional reminder: "When you're pretending to be an adult, you can't forget your manners and you still address real adults respectfully."

"Okay, ma'am."

He loves helping with anything and everything. He offers solutions to any minor problem we have, and he has some good ideas! I tell him so, and he gets so proud of himself. Good boy. But he sometimes forgets that he's still just a little boy. He gets a little too big for his britches. I'm always reminding him that he's not the boss of other kids, and he's not the boss of me. "Are you the boss? Or am I the boss?" I ask him.

"You are," he always concurrs. 

However...the repair man kept trying to convince me that since he was "a professional worker," he could now tell me what to do. So, I had to point out that, actually, he worked for me since he is working in my home. "Sorry, guess I'm still the boss after all..."

He didn't like that, and he walked away looking somewhat defeated for the time being. 

We decided to go to the park, and the repair man said he'd like to go too. He insisted on wearing the whole get-up to the park. I let him wear it in the car, but I started workin' on him. "Okay. Well, that sure will be nice to have an adult to visit with me on the bench while Emma plays."

"Yeah...." The repair man looked to be slowly drawing his conclusion. "Umm...I think I will do some work on the play ground. The slide probably needs fixing."

Nice one. 

Hmmm.... "Well...there are no repair men allowed on the play ground...only kids. You'll have to go back later after the park is closed." 

Gotcha.

"Oh...well, I think I hear your son, Ethan, in the trunk. He was hiding. So, I'll wait in the car when we get to the park, and Ethan can come out of the trunk and play."

I laughed out loud for several minutes, I bet.

Well played, Mr. Repair Man, well played.