The joy of my boys

In case anyone missed the memo, I adore my boys.

They are loud, boisterous, crazy, and make me pull my hair out sometimes.  But I love every moment of it.  After 8 years, I'm finally starting to understand what it is to raise boys.  No offense to all the girl-mamas out there, but it takes a whole other technique to have a boy in the house.  They learn differently, communicate differently, and love differently.  My boys wake up ready to go and don't stop until I tuck them into bed at night.  There are nights I declare "DS Party!" so I can tuck them in earlier and they can play games together for a while because I'm just exhausted.

On Friday, Sam had his ear tubes removed.  I, of course, was a nervous wreck about my boy being put to sleep and just undergoing surgery in general.  Even if it only lasted 15 minutes! That's my baby they were taking in there.  Sam, on the other hand, was a complete trooper.  He told the nurse Dr. Stern needed to hurry and fix his ears because he wanted his breakfast.  And after, in recovery, he grinned at me as he told me the nurse was going to give him a popsicle for being such a big boy!!  He blew me away.  This little one, who was dealt a big hand to play as an infant with all his allergies and ear infections, was so charming and sweet.  All the nurses wanted to keep him.

I had the opportunity while I was there to introduce an all-boy-mama there to the reality of having boys.  Hers are 2 and 4, and she said she just doesn't understand why they don't sit quietly ever.  I said "That's the nature of boys.  It's how they are designed to work."  She let it soak in and said "Well, I never thought of it that way.  How do you handle it?"  I told her that they just need a lot of energy outlets, opportunities to climb and build and be the hero.  They won't fit into the "girl behavior" box, but rather will just smash it down for the fun of it.  I saw the wheels turning in her mind, and hopefully she will take some time to really consider what it is to have all boys.  It's a special calling for mothers, that's for sure!

For all the times my boys make me wonder how many seconds are left until bedtime, there is a hug, a smile, a kiss, a "me loves you", there comes a realization that we're really doing a sort-of-good job with them that makes me step back and fall in love with them all over again.

It's a loud journey with these guys, and I have to get over my own girlish tendencies to survive...but I wouldn't trade it for anything.