My Buster
Oh, my quirky baby. Or, not baby, as he tells me, “I’m not a baby! I’ve got my own life now!”

Okay.

I think maybe I should call him my Buster instead of my Baby. That is a switch that I think I can make.

The child has never met a stranger. Never, ever, EVER. Last week at the pool, he talked and talked to one of the other moms who was there. At one point in their conversation she laughingly said to me, “He’s so shy — not!”. A little later, he broke off talking to her to do some groovy dancing around the pool to the oldies music that was blaring from the speakers. (My Buster is an awesome dancer.) A few minutes later, I looked up from my book to see him getting a tutorial from one of the lifeguards on how to test the pool’s water. The next time I looked up he had persuaded a teenaged babysitter to water him with the watering can that her ward had brought to the pool.

Never having met someone before is not a concept that matters — to him.

Like the lack of shyness, he has also never been stumped. During the school year, he would tell his pre-k teachers elaborate, imaginative stories. They would ask him questions. He would always, ALWAYS have an answer.

This means, of course, that he would sometimes have to make up words. For example, the other day in conversation with me, he used the word inchoosinal. I know that you’re dying to know what it means so I’ll tell you. For E (who is 5) inchoosinal is defined as being something that is his size.

I wonder if he was using that word when he was talking to the lifeguard at the top of the 2 story curvy tube slide? (Buster was up there because he gave me the slip while I was giving some instructions to my oldest son.) Maybe he said, “Dude, this slide is totally inchoosinal to me, I don’t care that I’m not as tall as you say that I’ve got to be. It’s INCHOOSINAL, man!” That is what his body language looked like, to me, anyway. He finally descended the stairs with good grace but I’m not certain that I won’t see him up there again soon, pleading his case with the lifeguard. Busters are not easily sidetracked, you know.

Anyway, one more thing about my Buster and then I’ll be done.

He doesn’t like flying insects. So, the other day…..

Buster: Hey get that bug! I don’t like that bug. It’s on my list.
Me: On what list?
Buster: On the list of things that I’m afraid of.
Me: Oh.
Buster: Yep. It’s extensive.
Me: Your list is extensive?
Buster: Uh-huh. That means that it’s really long.

What a buster.