Boys

Here are my reflections on the first four years of having sons:

If I had a penny for every time I said, "Be gentle," or "Slow down," or "You're getting too rowdy," Chuck and I would be retired by now!

Moments of destruction are thankfully balanced by moments of sweetness.

Whoever said boys are boy-like because of the way they're raised never had sons. There's no nurture needed to make these boys act rough, throw things, love balls and cars and bugs and building things, and tearing things apart. I've never deterred them from playing with girls' toys, yet if we walk through a toy store, they couldn't care less.

Silence will always make me nervous, wondering what they're up to on "stealth mode."

No matter how much you watch them, boys will always find a way to get into things you've never thought of...and usually make a mess and destroy it all in the process. Rarely can you protect a prized possession with boys around.

While you may not deal with long emotional episodes, you will deal with long physical episodes. Throwing fits, or just playing, it's gonna be physical. Any mother who has a son should try to stay in good physical shape just to keep up because your strength will be tested.

While boys may not get as moody as girls, you can definitely see times when their pride is hurt, and when that happens, look out! They may not be emotional about all things, but they are definitely emotional about not being able to master a new skill, or when they feel inferior in performance, or insulted.

Boys are busy! Today as I picked the boys up from the childcare at the gym, I asked Charlie if he'd had a chance to play the computer games. He said "No" because there were too many new toys to play with. I looked over at the computer center, and it was full of young girls playing the games...and so quiet you could hear a pin drop! Not that boys don't like computer games (we all know they do, especially when they grow up!!), but when there is a playground and lots of toys around...who needs it?

Calvin and Hobbes is amazingly closer to real life than I expected. A boy's world is full of imagination and action.

Boys were meant to be men. What I mean by that is, Charlie never talks about his future wedding or wife, etc, he only talks about what he's going to do when he grows up. It's all about working. It's much more of a calling on his life than it is on a girl's. So far he's decided he's going to work at Rackspace, since Daddy doesn't work there anymore, so there must be a position open for him.

Competition is natural part of life. If anything can be turned into a race, it will be.

Beds were meant to be trampolines. Any attempt to teach a boy otherwise is pointless.

Bodily functions are a never-ending source of entertainment, and boys possess an innate curiosity about them.

It is a young boy's duty to test the quality of furniture by jumping, climbing, kicking, and maybe even drawing on it if necessary.