Monday, August 25, 2008

My "job" in Elizabeth's eyes

The other night I was giving Elizabeth a bath and she wanted me to refill the water bottle Nana gave her. So, I refilled it…again and again and again. Back and forth to the bathroom sink. And what did she do? She kept dumping it right back out into the bath water. I quickly grew tired of the little game and finally said I wasn’t going to refill her bottle anymore. What did she say back? “Mama, it is your JOB to refill my water bottle.”

I turned around and looked at her, put my hand on my hip and lectured her about my "job." The conversation went something like this: “It is not my JOB to refill your water bottle. I actually have a real job. I am a PROFESSOR at Baylor University. I have my PhD, and I teach college.”

She interrupted my little speech, replying, “You are NOT a professor.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No, you’re not!”
“Yes, I am.”
“No, you’re not! You don’t LOOK like a professor and you don’t TALK like a professor.” Her response made me giggle: “You’re right. And aren’t you glad that I don’t look and talk like a professor?!!”

2 comments:

Kellee said...

That is too funny about Elizabeth and what she thinks your job is!

Way to go on the no-spending thing; that is definitely something Anthony and I should try for a while. I know it would make us think differently about how we spend/live day-to-day.

Looking forward to seeing you guys in a few weeks in Houston.

Caroline said...

That's a great story. A child of one of the contributors to Mama, PhD put it another way about her mom: "You're a teacher and a doctor and a mommy."
cheers
Caroline
coeditor, Mama, PhD: Women Write about Motherhood & Academic Life
http://www.mamaphd.com