We Got Complascent

Sasha has become very interested in what it means to “be a man.”
He studies men like his Dad, uncles, and Papa and has come to a few different conclusions.
1. Men don’t color their hair. Girls do that.
2. Men don’t wear dresses or pink.
3. Men wear belts.
And so he has become obsessed with the idea that he must wear a belt at all times. He’s become so taken with the idea it took a long talk with his father so that he would feel okay with not wearing a belt in the tub or to bed. He still wears a belt with his sweatpants, though, and that’s just not a battle that I feel is important to wage.
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It’s become evident that Sasha can read.
We’ve suspected it a long time. Years, actually. Every so often he’d come out with something that pointed to that idea. Nevertheless, we convinced ourselves it was something else: memory, trademark recognition, something.
And, because of this, we continued to watch TV in front of him that was not that appropriate. We decided turning on the closed captioning and muting the TV would be enough. He’d be protected from language and inappropriate conversation topics and we could enjoy our shows.
I am a terrible Mommy.
Recently I was watching another muted movie. Suddenly, he reads off the cc exactly and then asks, “Mommy, why is that man calling his friend a girl dog? I don’t understand. He’s not a dog at all. Is he trying to be silly?” (yes, he knows that word but only in the context of canine description). Then he asked a bunch of other questions about things that had happened earlier in the movie and words he didn’t know at all…like chapatti (after I told him it was a kind of food, his natural follow ups were would he like it and why didn’t I ever make it). That did it for me. The kid can read and read fast enough to keep up with the cc. Not only that, but we had to sit down and have a talk about bad words (a new concept for him) and things that were not nice to talk about.
I am pleased to know his teachers are full of doody now when they report he doesn’t know any of his letters and is behind. If he can read, I have nothing to worry about.
On the other hand, there go The Office and Big Bang Theory.