"She's NOT a lady..."

My 5 year son old pulled a "mental health" day from school last Thurs. He told me he had a sore tummy just as we were about to leave for school...Perfect timing as I was already behind time, anxious that my 7 year old son would miss the bus to his swimming class. "Really?" I asked. Rumours of tummy bugs had been circling. "Mmhmm", he nodded.
"Truly?", knowing he had me, I caved and told him he could stay home...Within 10 mins of returning from the drop off he was miraculously better.

I took him with me to the supermarket. He rode standing, on the front of the trolley, facing me so we could joke and chat as we went around the aisles. The usual weekday shoppers were there...Mum's with toddlers and the elderly. As we slowly negotiated our way past the toothbrushes we had to momentarily pause to wait for a little girl to step back out of our way. "Watch out for the lady." Her grandmother beckoned. As we turned the corner into the next aisle my son cracked up, "She just called you a lady." He was incredulous. He went on, "I was just about to tell her, 'She's NOT a lady!'"
"You don't think I'm a lady?" For one fanciful moment I thought my 5 year old son was about to engage me in modern feminist dialogue. Thinking he was coming to my defence I asked him, "Well if you don't think I'm a lady, what or who do you think I am?"
He looked at me as if that was a crazy question, "You are a MOTHER."

Least I forget.