Show Im I'm A Girl Editors Editor's note The following follow follow- ing was written by Roderick Nordell and appeared in the Christian Science Monitor daily dally newspaper on November November Novem Novem- ber 17 The small smaIl child chUd with the thc yellow hair cradled the doll doIl in loving arms There were the well learned maternal motions of rocking tenderly placing a bottle gently to tiny lips singing a quiet lullaby Meanwhile the boys boy's little sister had borrowed his hammer hammer hammer ham ham- mer and was pounding on the bedroom floor At the mom moment nt the daughter didn't s seem em to mind th the sons son's playing with her doll doIl Such supposedly ual behavior helps me to understand Un un- n. n the complications When a reader writes Boy oh boy I hope nobody challenges challenges chal chal- lenges you to tell teIl me about t girls The The assignment is too much for a m mere re father Yet other readers have posed the ch challenge challenge chal chal- l. l lenge after seeing some com comments corn copt men ments about boys on this page Who am I in the the face of so few Boy and man let me say say say- although I know it will fall on deaf ears the secret powers of femininity cannot be estimated estimated esti esti- mat mated d or evaluated writes the correspondent mentioned earlier He is a Georgian American America not Soviet Soviet Soviet So So- viet with two daughters and three granddaughters Obviously he has nothing to learn from a man by only one girl possessed But when that girl is almost three edible except ex ex- except for the fingernails she has a lot to teach an ed cd male who n never never ver really knew w what a girls were lik like The boys used to watch my dawn ritual of lathering and But it seems to me they usually turned over a wastebasket to stand on instead instead instead in in- stead of bringing crInging in a little stool You shaving asks the girl Yes Oh I push a foamy face at her Anything to g get t closer to that innkeepers innkeeper's grin No I cant can't want that on me She appears to tuck h her r head under her wings Okay That blood Yes Oh you cut yourself Just a nick Oh you better wash it it Yes Not in the shower She shakes her morning hair hai No not in the shower No Can I put your flippers away Yes thank you very much I 1 wont won't throw them Good You going work today Yes You coming back Yes Oh After two boys a a daughter is like a declaration of pea peace peace Or so I thought for several months Girls certainly seemed seemed seem seem- ed different She may have looked like a caterpillar in her brothers brother's corduroy over overalls over over- alls ails but it was a girl cat cater i. i pillar As soon as she realized this ls she stopped wearing anything with legs except tights Shorts in the summer No Slacks Slacks' around the house No Only dresses dresses dresses Are you hungry No Are you thirsty No What are you Im a girl girI I knew feminism never died in the female heart but I did not know it started so early Perhaps its it's because of the brothers They go to her when she's in trouble but they trample trample trample tram tram- her if she's in the way Im I'm not sure where she learned to Ito pronounce knucklehead so perfectly but she needs it to get through the day The mother of a sturdy boy playmate playmate playmate play play- mate says she is the only one who'll fight back Dont Don't get the impression she is a pre premature termagant Itis It Itis is is true she has a sense of property that would put a zoning zoning zoning zon zon- ing committee to shame But after the boys have come back from a football game and she had to stay home and because because because be be- cause she couldn't go she he was given some compensatory candy candy candy can can- dy she has been known to say Want some of my Mand M Mand Mand and Ms Also she may have barely looked up from her ironing during the kitchen fashion show featuring her fathers father's new suit But the way she looked up was sidewise and what she said was Its awful awfuL awful aw aw- ful pretty You could have picked me up with a sponge And sometime every day or most days she turns away from the sublunary world of crying demanding refusing inciting and returns to that habitable mood where little girls naturally live Then she kisses and tells I love you I love Mommy I love Eric I love John I love Grandma I love Grandpa I love Poppa I love Tootie I love Sophie Now Sophie happens to be a golden retriever and its it's not exactly to sa say I seem to be the only one in our family who is not to get a dog But I must say my heart melted when I 1 saw that little girl and that amiable amia amia- ble beast together over at Sophie's house the other day The dog let her do any anything anything- thing thing- hug it ride it rub its lis cool clean nose with her warm dirty one make sounds in its ear snuggle with it under the kitchen table and pull the rug up over them It all convinced me I looked look look- looked ed at the child and the dog Okay I said lets have another daughter |