Posted on 03/29/2016 6:31:11 AM PDT by Kaslin
In many ways I am a girly-girl. I love pretty dresses and going out for afternoon tea. I could sit with a book for hours, snuggled under a blanket, without feeling the need to move. Pink is one of my favorite colors, second only to powder blue. I’m not a huge fan of getting dirty and my relationship with bugs is strained.
But my son is all boy. Yesterday I watched him sit on the ground, placing handful after handful of dirt methodically into his lap. Then he stood up, grinned, and fell over onto a plant that, somewhat inexplicably, covered him in black soot. He picked himself up and toddled off to investigate a manhole cover from which he extracted a clod of dirt and grass which he sniffed and then put into his mouth. Like I said, he’s all boy.
It was clear from the moment he was born. He burst into the world raring to go and became immediately frustrated that he didn’t yet know how to run. He asserted his independence early, fussing and kicking against me so that I would put him down and let him practice rolling over. He took in the world with serious intensity, as if analyzing the laws of nature, sitting bolt upright in my lap, his blue eyes wide. He slowed down only to eat, finally resting his little head against the crook of my elbow, his eyelids resisting the inevitable pull toward sleep.
I worried that I wouldn’t know what to do with a boy. I didn’t want to be one of those mothers constantly racing after her son with a baby wipe yelling, “Don’t touch that! It’s dirty!” But would I be able to handle his perfect little face all covered in mud?
I didn’t want to be one of those mothers holding his arm as he climbed to the top of the jungle gym, screeching, “Not so high! You’re going to fall!” But would I be able to stand down below as my fearless boy catapulted to the top of the climber with no regard whatsoever for the length of the drop?
I didn’t want to be one of those mothers ripping the pots and pans out of his hands while sternly saying, “Not so loud!” But would I be able to handle the racket?
So he grew and I worried, and I worried and he grew. And then, a funny thing happened. I realized I love the boyness of him. Of course, I love him -- he’s my baby. But I actually, truly, love all the things I worried I would hate.
He revels in the sounds things make when he bangs on them. This sofa cushion sounds different from the tabletop, the tabletop sounds different from the wall. We drum on things together, his joyful enthusiasm rubbing off on me. He experiments with the sounds his voice can make, sometimes a high-pitched squeak, sometimes a primal yell. And I whoop and holler, too, as we run through the grass. He thinks the sounds of words are funny. “Tissue” is a favorite and “idea.” I discover I think they’re hilarious, too, and we say them over and over and roll on the floor giggling.
We look at bugs and birds and dogs. We examine dirt. We look into holes in the ground and peer through fences. We chase airplanes and make “whoosh whoosh” noises. He hands me wood chips and leaves and sticks for safe-keeping. I point out ants marching single-file along a tree trunk and garbage trucks roaring stinkily by.
His hugs are given with boyish abandon, his whole body flung into mine, his arms wrapped around my neck, his fingers entwined with my hair. They last only a moment but that makes them all the sweeter. He plants his kisses on my cheek with his mouth open wide, smearing spit all over my face. Then he presents his cheek for a kiss of his own. And then he is gone. Off on another adventure.
I love the boyness of him. And thank goodness I do. Because it’s who he is. No matter how I feel about it. So I hold my breath as he learns to climb. And I make sure he has a good long soak in the bath at night. And I watch his face as he dreams, wondering what mischief we’ll get up to tomorrow. My son is all boy. And that’s just fine with me.
My son is 100% snails, pails and puppy dog tails and I could not be happier about it.
Nice and naughty! LOL just keep the soy away from the boy! Mine dug a ditch out of the mud then took a nap in it and 10 years later he was digging one at Camp Lejeune.
Put him on meds.
The system can’t handle him.
No mention of a husband and father, though.
You’re a good Mom. You are not raising a daisy. He’ll be a good MAN.
Yep, I noticed that too.
“All boy”? Well it takes a husband/father at home to ensure he stays that way.
This gal wore out the letter “I” on her keyboard.
It is the feminists’ dream come true.
At this moment, somewhere, there’s a liberal seething at the ABUSE this parent is heaping upon their child, by not letting the child gender select properly. lol.
“Yesterday I watched him sit on the ground, placing handful after handful of dirt methodically into his lap. Then he stood up, grinned, and fell over onto a plant that, somewhat inexplicably, covered him in black soot”
The only problem is. her son is 19 years old. /S
I’m 50+ and I still love to get dirty now and then.
Boys will be boys.
I was a tomboy growing up.....I was really good at baseball, helping my older brother with practice (I was a better hitter) and all. But back then, girls didn’t play baseball. I am so very grateful that I had a son. I lived out my sport fantasies through him.....football, basketball, baseball, soccer, diving. I hope he enjoyed it as much as I did. He wanted to be an athlete and he was athletically inclined. But I told him that learning all the sports would benefit him when he was an adult and could play any position in pick-up men’s games. He is now a successful adult, husband and father. Wouldn’t trade the experience for the world.
I hearken back to a time when men were men and the women were glad of it.
By the time my son was 5 years old, every conceivable item available in my house was a toy gun.
My son loved to play guns.
I recognized somewhere along my path that I had bought into an absurd sociological construct. I reflected, I repented, I considered.
I bought my son toy guns and other items which he clearly coveted for birthdays, Christmas, and whatever appropriate gift giving occasions.
My son was also fascinated by Policemen. Whenever he saw them he would tug at me to consider the wonder of such obvious heroes in our presence.
It was rather clear where his interests were most heightened and directed.
By the time my son had reached his 25th, he was a college graduate, an Army Captain, a recipient of a Medal for Valor, a leader of men, and one of the finest among men whom I have ever been privileged to know.
I won't say more about his current status but I will say that our world is lightly better and safer because he is in it.
This Post really touched me as a father.
Thank You for sharing it.
Slightly, not lightly.
I wish that FR had an edit feature.
Thank you for a wonderful post about a wonderful son.
It's all being done by the MSM and Social media. I'll give you two examples of how they keep hammering it dwn our thrats which was on just last night. On Bates Motel they had Norma Bates making out with a stripper who was actually the somewhat gender confused NormaN Bates flipping back and forth between personalities. On The Family, the daughter of the mayor, walked into a bar and got into a heated discussion with another character who they had already alluded to the fact she was lesbian in an earlier scene during conversation. Of course they made her character look attractivd, intelligent and quirky. While these gals are shooting jabs back nd forth between each other the lesbian says something to the effect, "well there is one thing I know about you", then moves in close and kisses her for what seems 30 secs implying she knows the daughter is lesbian too. And then of course half the shows on TV have effeminate men or stupid male role models who are dumb as rocks so is it a wonder why children who might see this on TV daily think this is normal behavior? My daughter-in-law restricts TV viewing to one room where she is present nd monitors what they can or can't watch. To date none of her children (my grand-children) has exhibited any signs of gayness and has shown interest only in the opposite sex. So what comes into young eyes and ears does matter!
It's all being done by the MSM and Social media. I'll give you two examples of how they keep hammering it down our throats which was on just last night. On Bates Motel they had Norma Bates making out with a stripper who was actually the somewhat gender confused NormaN Bates flipping back and forth between personalities. On The Family, the daughter of the mayor, walked into a bar and got into a heated discussion with another character who they had already alluded to the fact she was lesbian in an earlier scene during conversation. Of course they made her character look attractive, intelligent and quirky. While these gals are shooting jabs back nd forth between each other the lesbian says something to the effect, "well there is one thing I know about you", then moves in close and kisses her for what seems 30 secs implying she knows the daughter is lesbian too. And then of course half the shows on TV have effeminate men or stupid male role models who are dumb as rocks so is it a wonder why children who might see this on TV daily think this is normal behavior? My daughter-in-law restricts TV viewing to one room where she is present nd monitors what they can or can't watch. To date none of her children (my grand-children) has exhibited any signs of gayness and has shown interest only in the opposite sex. So what comes into young eyes and ears does matter!
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