the boy makes me proud

James' friend E. is over to play. This is good for everyone because James and E. are both obsessed with Star Wars, they (mostly) tolerate Evan tagging along, and I am thus able to do a lot of things I might otherwise not have time for. (Like Boggle online!)

Scene: James and E. are (duh) playing Star Wars. James' version of Star Wars is based on the Star Wars Legos video game, which he tries to re-enact as closely as possible.

James: Do you want to be the pilot or Queen Amidala?
E.: (pause) Are you crazy?!?!?!? Queen Amidala?!?!?!
James: Yeah, do you want to be Queen Amidala or the pilot?
E.: Amidala is a girl!
James: Okay, if you want to be a boy, you can be the pilot, who is not a girl.
E.: Okay.
James: And I will be Queen Amidala.

E. is an almost-6-year-old boy, he is in kindergarten, he has an older sister, and his parents are traditional conservative Christians. These are the things that I can think of that might contribute to E's disgust at the idea of pretending to be a girl. Whatever causes it, I'm glad James doesn't have the same attitude. Star Wars has very few women, true, but the women in Star Wars are for the most part pretty capable. Not as heroic as the men, of course, but they're cool enough for my son to pretend to be them, and that's something.