Boy, Oh Boy!

When I had my son, Ethan, my world was turned upside down.  He is my second born, so I walked into parenting him like a pro, thinking, I already have a 2 year old (a girl), I can certainly do this again and it will be easier.  Man, was I wrong!!

I think one of my favorite things about being a mother is that I get to experience raising both genders.  It's like a challenge for me to use different parts of my brain like a test.  It's been a bit rough.  I didn't know how to raise a son (and I'm still learning).  Boys have much different needs and desires and instincts....duh!  I didn't need anyone to tell me that, or so I thought.  When my oldest daughter was 17 months, I could entertain her by placing washable paint on the kitchen floor with a paint brush and paper and she'd paint to her little hearts content and actually stay on the paper.  I learned pretty fast that I couldn't do the same thing with Ethan.  He tried to eat the paint and he preferred to use his hands instead of brushes and paint the cabinets instead of paper.  And that would last all of 30 seconds before he was toddling off to the living room covered in paint.  *Ding!* (that's the light bulb going off in my head)  I had to parent him differently.

-He started climbing things at 6 months old.  No kidding...he'd climb chairs, stairs, tables, cabinets.   When he was 10 months old, I found him standing in the middle of the coffee table and then watched

 jumping off a log at the beach!

(in horror) as he attempted to jump off.  He was all over the place. Hind sight 20/20 I wish I could have just put him in a padded room and let him go at it.
-He is loud.  He gets excited easily and yells.  Even his normal voice is consistently 3 volume notches above the average person. His 2nd grade teacher told us in a conference, that no matter where Ethan was, he could hear Ethan's voice.  That's true.
-He is in love with reptiles.  Since the time he was 3 years old, I've had some sort of reptile living in my house.  In Tulsa, he would catch toads in our back yard and beg me to keep them as pets.  The best investment you can make as a mother of a boy?  A reptile habitat....nothing fancy, just a small glass aquarium.  We've had the same one for 6 years, and it has housed over 7 toads (not at once), 3 lizards and even a baby garter snake.  Though when he had the snake, the habitat stayed outside....I have boundaries for these kind of things!

his current reptile, "Recto-Slicer".

-He likes to collect "treasure".  I think it was Mark Twain that said something like, "There is a time in every boys life where he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure."  That's about right except Ethan doesn't have to dig to find it.  He sees treasure EVERY WHERE.  Consistently I find paperclips, rocks, bottle caps, random pieces of plastic, coins, springs, bolts, etc. in the pockets of his jeans.  I've begun saving them in a jar btw...I figure it will make a cool keepsake for him to show his kids one day. :)
-If I ask him to go get something downstairs, he will find the hardest way possible to make it to his destination and back.  Example: flip onto the couch, jump to the coffee table, jump over the carpet to the tile, crawl down the stairs head first, flip over the downstairs couch, jump off into a pile of blankets, while grabbing the spoon he left on the floor.  Then he will sprint back upstairs as fast as he can, throw it in the sink and say, "How fast was I?"  Oh, I forgot to mention he asked me to time him, too. :)

Ethan is just like Billy, from The Family Circus.

-He NEEDS to wrestle.  At random times through out the day, I am asked, "mommy, will you wrestle with me?"  If Mike isn't home and I can't at the moment, he wrestles either the dog or his sister (which inevitably ends up with her crying).  And when I say wrestle, I mean wrestle.  It's a good workout, but I always lose. ;)

Being a boy is hard work because I'm not fully convinced that they know what they need....even as they grow up and become men.  Do they know they need to conquer things?  To explore the unknown? Build things?  Destroy things?  I'm honestly not saying I think they should possibly do these things, I honestly think they NEED to do these things.  It's in their nature.  That's how they thrive. Beware parents, especially, mothers, if you don't provide a way for your son to do these things, he will find a way himself and I guarantee you it won't be not be safe or smart!!  Boys will thrive when given the freedom to do these things, and as their parent, you can provide a safe environment for them to do so. Give your son a shovel and let him dig a random hole in the yard!  Let him make mud castles and then stomp them down.  Go on a hike and let him lead the way (within reason!).  When your vacuum dies, give him a screw driver, hammer and eye protection and let him take it apart!

I love my boy!!

Thankfully, after being a mother to a little boy for 9 years, I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of it and understanding how his mind and body work. The key?  Keep him moving and keep him fed and give him lots of hugs.  That's it, well, at least I hope that continues into the future, and I think it may because it works for my husband, too! :)  Tire him out until he crashes and feed the little bugger every 1.5 hours....hahaha.