It’s amazing how?I can look up?every so often?and realize that?I haven’t written a post in over a week! The new job has me busy. My boy says I’m always busy, so it must be true. Other than being a certified member of the rat race all is well. Anyway, that’s not what this post is about. It’s about my boy and his growing like bathroom mold – fast and unapologetic.

The Dev is big. Everything about him is actually. His personality is big. His ideas and words are big. But it is his?size that stands out when you meet him.

I’m not sure why my son is so huge physically. I am slightly below average height for an American man and my wife is slightly above average height for an American woman, neither of us are particularly notable, though my wife is kind of model-like. The women in my wife’s family are on the tall side, as are a few in my extended family,?aside from that?there is no clear explanation for my son’s size. Part of me?is thrilled by his imposing presence (one more?thing that I plan on enjoying vicariously),another part of me is not.?

Big kids can?get a bad rap, and he will most certainly be the biggest kid in his kindergarten class.?People assume?Dev?is older because he is as big as some seven year olds. When he speaks?many still can’t tell he’s very young. That said there are still certain stereotypes about the so-called big doofy guy. In some people’s limited, underdeveloped minds the big guy is either walking the green mile, or waiting for his brother to take him to see the rabbits. When?you’re big and black (African American) the stereotypes run much deeper -?people start talking about your child’s basketball and/or football career or wonder when your?husband/boyfriend?got out of prison. Sad but true.?I doubt Obama’s presidency will have much of an impact on those evil perceptions, but perhaps it will.?

I suppose that I’m a little fed up with stereotypes, assumptions, and people passing judgement on others. We have no right to shrink?people to fit into our individual little worlds, because like Dev most people are complex,?unique, interesting,?and too darn big to be belittled.