blue socks

On Scout's first flight, she was lucky enough to be upgraded to first class thanks to her father's gold status with US Airways. Alex willingly swapped 1D for 23E, where he kept Catcher busy with goldfish and a flip cam during 68 minutes of flying.

Meanwhile in first class, I was sitting next to a nice gentleman of the business variety. I'm sure he was thinking to himself, "Great. I'm the one sitting by the baby" when he first discovered his seat, but he was actually quite pleasant. Our conversation went a little something like this:

Man: How old is the baby? About 4 or 5 months?

Me: Um [thinking] 9 weeks.

Man: Wow [looking at Scout], you're a big boy.

Me: It's a girl. She's a girl.

Man: Oh, sorry.

Me: That's okay, they all look the same at this age.

Man: You threw me off putting blue socks on her. [He turns to Scout] I'm sorry, sweetheart. Why are you wearing blue socks?

Me: [Thinking: what's the big deal with the blue socks? Girls can't wear blue?]

Man: What's her name?

Me: Scout.

Man: Skylar?

Me: No, Scout [extra emphasis on the "t"].

[90-second pause]

Man: Where did Scout come from?

Me: [Thinking: my belly? Charlotte? Oh...where did the name come from]. Scout came from the book To Kill a Mockingbird.

Man: [Nods his head]

Random woman in aisle: Aw. Look at that baby. How old is he?

Me: It's a girl.

Random woman in aisle: Oh, sorry.

Man: I know. She's confusing us with the blue socks.

Me: [Again with the socks?]