The Socially Awkward Questions Have Begun

Scarlett has become hardcore obsessed with the BBC show Octonauts. Nothing she used to care about - Mulan, My Little Pony, Beauty and the Beast - can be put on the television for her. All she wants to watch is Octonauts. So for Easter we got her all the characters. She has two favorite characters/toys: Shellington, a koala bear, and Kwazii, a cat descended from a long line of pirates. This is what Kwazii looks like:

So, two days ago we went out to eat and Scarlett saw a veteran on a wheelchair with an eye patch. Silly me - I thought she was going to ask me about the wheelchair. She has a wheelchair-bound toy, but doesn’t see too many people in wheelchairs. Nope. She asked me, “Daddy, is he a pirate?”

“Nope”

And that’s all I had to say because they called us to go to our table and I don’t think the guy heard us. But, based on my memories of my brother David, I think we’re in for a slew of “Look, he’s fat!”, “Is she a witch?”, etc. Time for her to start learning public interaction manners, I guess.

• Octonauts