For the most part, boys are so easy, so intuitive. I love my boys. But there are a few things I just don't get, and I'm willing to attribute them to my being female.
1. Peeing on the toilet lid. Granted, this is in the middle of the night, and if you're awoken from a dead sleep to answer a call to nature, you're not expected to be at your Rocket Scientist Best. Still. Is there no warning system anywhere in the wiring that lets them know something is not right? If Clorox hadn't invented their wipes, I probably wouldn't have been able to bring myself to have touched a toilet in the last six years.
2. Testosterone Play. I don't get that. How, exactly, are you to know the difference between being spiked in the head from behind with a football in fun, or in fiery aggression? You know, if one of my friends walked up behind me and slammed her diaper bag into the back of my head, the response would not be one of frivolity and camaraderie. Ever. But the boys on the field seem to know which is which. I have no idea how to impart this information to my sons. Hopefully they can infer what they'll need in order to survive. Meanwhile, I'm on the sidelines, feeling like Jane Goodall in her early years.
3. Faces. Silly faces in the mirror, in the window, in store display glass, at one another. I don't mind this one, but I also don't get it. It's not a game, it's a pastime. A hobby. A Way of Life. Little boys feel about making silly faces the way little girls feel about... I don't know, something else. Something pretty darned important to little girls. But the faces -- they're never ending!
That's pretty much it. Not bad, really. I do consider myself blessed. It's a good life, this. It's funny, a little stinky (one of the hazards of bodily function jokes, which I will never admit to the boys, but Zorak knows, I do find mostly funny), and always interesting. And there is nothing quite like watching your son do something, knowing his yardstick is Dad, and beaming with love and pride and joy in his eyes when he feels like he's getting it right. That look, I hope to see over and over again in the years to come. That look, I think I understand.
Kiss those babies!
~Dy
8 comments:
You are a sweet mamma. I don't know how to get a boy to pee in the toilet, either. Well, yes I do. Tired of wiping up pee puddles on the floor NEXT TO the toilet every day, tired of walking by that bathroom and smelling the stench, even though it gets cleaned EVERY DAY, I've insisted that the boy sit down. It helps. A lot.
OK, I can totally relate to #2 and 3, but not #1. They all seem to be able to remember to lift the lid.
That being said, I do love the way in which you write about those sorts of things. You sound like such a gentle mommy.
There are times in my days when I think, "Okay, that stinks, but Dy would find something gentle and humorous about it. WWDD?"
:)
I'm with everyone else. The rest I understand but the pee? UGH! I bet in homes where the father is the sole housekeeper that the pee doesn't his the seat! Seriously, does HE ever have to clean the pee? Nope, so why try?
:-) I guess it's just my little sleepwalking space cadets. That would make sense.
I've got to give Zorak full credit. He is just as likely to swipe the toilet and floor during the week as I am. He's awesome about things like that. I think between the two of us, we're doing okay and thankfully the bathroom doesn't smell like it's being besieged by blind arterillerymen. Now my hope is that they will eventually learn not to sleep so soundly!
Dy
There are times in my days when I think, "Okay, that stinks, but Dy would find something gentle and humorous about it. WWDD?" - So True!!!
I had deluded myself into thinking that the "baloompalomp" boys' sleepover would be ever so much easier the catty "she's my best friend" girls' sleepover. I was wrong. The girls got along beautifully, the boys spent the night on the hairy edge of a trip to the ER.
LOL I only have one boy, and I swear clorox wipes are my best friend. Of course it helps that HE CAN WIPE with them too ;)
So funny though :)
"...feeling like Jane Goodall in her early years." You crack me up Dy!
Silly faces is a girl thing here. Sophie is the queen of facial contortions, but everyone will tell you that she got it from me.
Cute post. I have three boys, ages 11 to 17 (and one darling little girl) and that's all true and more. I had brothers, so it's nothing new to me.
Parenting boys is especially fun if you almost never participate in their pottiness (like me) and then once in a blue moon get into it with them. They don't know what to do (but they love it)!!
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