"Before we get started I'd like to take a moment to talk about shop safety"

Boy and I watch TV together sometimes. Girl watches also, but she's still a little young to express her opinion on specific programming. So the boys tend to take over, except for the specific times I put on Elmo's World during Sesame Street or Jack's Big Music Show. Both excellent shows. Anyway, Boy and I like to watch some specific shows when we watch TV together. Dirty Jobs on Discovery. Good Eats on the Food Network. The This Old House Hour and New Yankee Workshop on PBS. Good times. We talk about animal poop, cooking and tools, respectively. The thing that cracks me up is the fact that he typically doesn't name the show host by name, he assumes the show host's name is the name of the show. To Boy, Alton Brown's name is actually Good Eats. Where is Good Eats going? he'll ask. Norm Abrams and New Yankee Workshop are interchangeable ideas. Except for some strange reason he knows Mike Rowe by name. Mike's become family, so to speak.

Boy recently celebrated a birthday. His 4th. He basically received a giant pile of toys and a giant pile of clothes. He plays immediately with the toys. The clothes pretty much are at the discretion of Mommy. She takes out his clothes in the morning. The clothes choices tend to not be a problem. He rarely questions Mommy's style aesthetic. Getting Boy to put the clothes on his body is the larger problem. I've pretty well established this fact, so I won't dwell. A couple days after the party, Boy says to Mommy, I want to wear my New Yankee Workshop shirt. Your what? My New Yankee Workshop shirt. Then, he goes to the closet and points it out. Grandma had given him the shirt. It's pretty cool. A dark plaid flannel shirt. Like Norm Abrams wears. Now, I feel the need to point something out here. This is a leap that he made. Never once have we discussed the wardrobe choices of any of our favorite television personalities. He, in his head, must have made some sort of mental note of how good Norm Abrams looks in his plaid flannel shirt. Or perhaps he sees plaid flannel in association with tools in general. Like some sort of woodworking uniform. And we all know how cool tools are. I'm not sure. I just enjoy the thought process. Clothes are somewhat of a novelty to young children. They don't really have any kind of established societal norms built in their heads. A Halloween costume is perfectly appropriate attire for the grocery store. A fireman rain coat for playing soccer. Why not? The lines are blurred between uniforms and costumes, pajamas and clothes. So I think he sees the shirt as some sort of uniform and in his head, he wants to try out the role.

Oh and this next point is somewhat irrelevant, but Boy is wearing his New Yankee Workshop shirt reversed. I have no idea why, but the buttons and collar are facing backwards. Just to complete the image. Again, he's not naked so I say go with it.