Me!Me! is the epitomal middle child. I never believed in such a thing as birth order - until reading Pioneer Woman and raising Me!Me!. I imagine one day he will drive a Jeep. In the open air. Without the top. Muddied from off-road trailblazing. A braided band around his neck with a carved stone cross dangling from the center (cuz he'll be a follower. Just the one who drives a Jeep and has a shaggy hairdo). Me!Me! likes to hang loose (as I'll demonstrate in a minute). He's cool. He's happy. He's, well, he's Me!Me!
Why the nickname "Me!Me!" you ask? When he was two and his dad would ask the twins who wants to ____________ (insert some really cool, fun kid thing to do), the two older kids would scream "MMMmmmeeeeeeeeeee!" in unison. Little Dude first signed "me" "me" with his hands. As he became more savvy with words, he turned it verbally to: Me! Me! Henceforth, he came to be known as Me!Me! However, being the wise, mature 4 year-old that he is now, he does not want that baby name attributed to him. On more than one occasion, he has corrected me on how to appropriately beckon him (oh yes, beckon him I do). Well, being defiant and mischievous as I am, I refused to give up calling him a cute little nickname, but I transitioned it to Meiners. And he responds to all three of his names now. His two nicknames plus his God-given name (plus its shortened version, plus the one...OK, really that's all.)
So, loving Me!Me! as I do, and thereby knowing him as I do (or vice versa), I should not have been wholly surprised this morning when I entered the living room where the three older kids were rehashing Monday night's High School Musical's version of American Idol on the DVR with this added nuance of musical talent:
I can't really tell you why the HSM talent-wannabes needed to be vanquished by our budding Luke Skywalker, but rest assured, that lightsaber wielding 4 year-old was out for revenge.
Fast forward to our trip through WalMart this afternoon, and count me equally as surprised (although why I was surprised I know not) when I turned around to beckon Me!Me! to hurry only to find the weight of the lightsaber (still attached) had accidentally pulled his shorts down a bit too far and Little Man was unassumingly flashing his stuff to the local WalMart patrons and associates. (I assume unassumingly, anyway...) Oh. Wait. I forgot to tell you. He refuses to be encumbered by common underwear. Oh it's true. "It holds me in, Mom." Um, yeah. That's it's job, Me!Me! So you don't flash the people at WalMart. Or anywhere else, for that matter.
Go figure. There's a story about Meiners. (You're Welcome, Caro!)
