the ugly and the cute

I recently had a few spots on my face lasered. It makes the spots get much darker before it makes them fade. The thirteen-year-old stopped me in the upstairs hallway, stared at me bewilderedly, and said: “Mom! Look at those dark spots! You look really ugly… You’d better use some makeup...” This morning on the way to school I told him I’d see him later at the awards assembly. “You’re gonna wear makeup, right?” he questioned. “Your face looks gross.” I love you, too, buddy.

Yesterday after school I schlepped said 13-yr-old, still in the dog house, to the department store, for he was in need of new dress shirts and ties. After we argued over which ties to purchase (we apparently have much different taste, my preference not being shiny plain black guido ties (no offense to anyone out there, my bad..), I spotted a sharp pair of madras plaid shorts on the way out of the boys’ department. I stopped. “Ooh, look at these, buddy… these are cute.”

“Eeewww. I don’t wanna look CUTE, Mom…”

Oops. Forgot to always use a different adjective with boys… Cute is a dirty word to boys. It's all in the adjective...

Some alternatives to describe boys:

“ good looking”
“sharp”
“crisp”
“handsome”... and let's be realistic, shall we?

“urchin-like”
“impish”