color

colorblind


Several weeks ago now, Isaac suddenly, at dinner, looked at Papa and said, "Papa, you're brown." I asked him,  "Isaac, what did you say?"

Of course I asked because what he said sounded more like "Papa, yoi bwaun," which is a little more vague. But Papa and I looked at each other and we knew it was time for our first "talk" with our child.

Apparently, Isaac, deciding that my question meant his observation was not welcome, muttered, "It doesn't matter." Papa heard this. I said, "No, no, Isaac, it doesn't matter. It's fine!"

So Papa said, "Yes, that's right, my skin is brown. I'm from Africa."

Isaac: "Papa, you Africa boy!"

I couldn't resist asking, since I thought maybe I had gotten a little bit of a tan over the summer, "Isaac, what color is Mama?"

Without hesitation, "Mama, you're white!"

Darn.

"Yep, I guess I am. Isaac, what about you?"

He looked at himself, and decided, "Mama, I'm brown."

I said, "Well, you're somewhere kind of in between Mama and Papa, but yeah, I guess that works."

I mean, I didn't realize my parents had dark brown, not black hair for well.. about the first 13 years of my life. So maybe explaining the difference between brown and light brown or "olive" or "mocha latte" (as my friend Audrey put it) is a little premature. I thought it was interesting though, that Isaac chose brown. I mean, really his skin is more of a brown, I suppose. It's not "white". Not all pasty like Mama.

He's mentioned it a few more times since then, "Mama, I'm brown."
I wanted him to be a little more specific, so I said, "Yes, your skin is brown."
He of course, repeated, "Yeah, my skin brown."
And I told him what I think, "It's very pretty. It's beautiful brown skin."
(Isaac also has been calling nearly everything pretty lately, but that's a different story.)

Anyway, Papa and  I thought this was an interesting development. We don't know if he had just noticed it, or was just able to express himself finally. Put another way, it's hard to know if it was more of a cognitive or linguistic development. I'll be interested to see when he goes back to daycare because there is one girl who "is brown". So I wonder if he will identify with her that way, or not so much yet. I mean, he gets along with most kids, but it will just be curious to see! He wasn't very interested in her before (although she practically idolized him) but she is younger by about 4 months so that makes it harder to play at a common game.

Little Isaac is growing up. At least he won't have to go to kindergarten for another 3 years. Our little cousins started kindergarten this week and it had me thinking about how I'm glad I have another 3 years to get ready for that stage. It won't be about the separation - and I don't think that's what makes it hard. It really is, as my cousin put it, the end of their childhood, in a way. Not that they aren't kids anymore. They are just beginning to get closer to adulthood. I don't know - maybe I'll be more eloquent about it when Isaac gets there. (Or maybe not - eloquence is not always such a strength of mine).