Friends

So,

Austin has a charming way of referring to relationships. One day we were sitting on the grass when his grandmother (Mary) came up. "It's Nana!" Austin shouted. "And Nana, there's your friend!"

Mary was a little confused (as were we all). "My friend?"

"Grandpa!" Austin explained.

I've since tried to explain the idea of marriage to him, husbands and wives and all that, but it usually ends up in an Oedipal confusion or worse. "I'm married to mommy, and..."

"No, I'm married to Mommy!"

And then back and forth a couple times. Sometimes he gives up and says, okay, then I'm married to Mari!

I thought of this today because we saw our neighbors and Austin thought about the little boy's name and said, "John. Like Uncle John." Cogitation. "Uncle John is Titi's [Amy's] friend."

Yes, I said. And who's my friend.

"Mommy!"

Yay.