Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The Person You Are Going to Be

Somewhere along the way, I heard that you are the person you are going to be by the time you are three. I don't remember where I heard that, but I remember utterly disagreeing with it. I think there are other things that shape you along the way. I didn't buy it.

Until lately.

When Boy was 3, he loved cars. I mean he LOVED cars. He knew what they all were. He would recognize a car a half block away and announce it. "Mom here comes a Chrysler blah blah blah." If you ever doubted that he was right, and went up to double check, he was always right on.
He had all his little Matchbox cars and he'd bring them up to you asking you to tell him what kind of car it was (they usually have the type written on the bottom). Sometimes the car didn't say, it just said "Malaysia," the country where the car was made, but Boy wouldn't buy it.
"I see words!" He'd exclaim, "What do the words say Mommy?"
"Malaysia, Boy. It's a Malaysia Car."
Once when my friend Leticia and her husband were watching him, he brought his cars. Jorge was quizzing him on each car. Then Jorge held up a car and asked what it was and Boy answered, "That's a Malaysia car."
Leticia said, "No, honey, there's no such thing," but Jorge turned it over and started laughing at what he read there. What can I say, he wouldn't take no for an answer.
Then when he was about five, he decided that he had learned all he could ever learn about cars and became obsessed with animals. Much the way he was with the cars, he set out to learn all there was to know about animals, and he pretty much succeeded. People would call him to ask him about animals. One of the 7th grade teachers, who helped out with after school care had my kindergarten son in to talk to her class. The cars were tossed under the bed forgotten and then eventually given away to other kids who actually wanted them.
Then he liked imaginary creatures, then music.
Now all of a sudden it's cars again. Though he doesn't remember anything he learned as a three-year-old, my eleven-year-old Boy is obsessed with cars again. He's already plotting the car he wants when he's sixteen. I haven't the heart to tell him we can barely afford college let alone a brand-new VW Beetle or a Porshe (which evidently were created by the same guy says my little guy and I won't question him- after eleven years I know better).

So I guess you are the person you are going to be when your three, or at least the person you are going to be at eleven. I bet he wishes he hadn't let me give his Malaysia cars away (they were always his favorite).

1 comment:

La Sirena said...

Professor Porsche was his name and he also designed vehicles for the Nazi war effort and was friends with Hitler. Maybe that will be a helpful fact for you at some point.