Be a man

My son Neil is training to be a man. It is serious business to this 5-year-old. I can see him practicing his manhood by making moves, imitating conversations, checking himself out in the mirror.

In his mind, he is one of the big guys when he slings his baseball bag (which is bigger than he is) over his shoulder and gives his t-ball coach a wink and a nod as he says "Good practice coach!" Then he saunters off as he imagines real baseball players do. I feel like I should take him out for a beer.

He has asked me to refer to him as Big Papi (yes, David Ortiz of the Red Sox player). That's the number he chose for his t-ball jersey too.

He talks about himself in the third person, "Neil Yerem hits a home run!" "Neil Yerem dives for the ball."

Manhood is apparently narrated.