You Must Really Have Your Hands Full!

The first comment I always get when people notice I have three boys is "You must really have your hands full." You know what? I do! Thank you so much for pointing that out as my monkeys swing from clothes rack to clothes rack, smearing half-eaten banana on your overpriced, way too trendy clothes! Ok it's not that bad, I'm blowing things out of proportion. The boys HAVE been known to push one another down or occasionally knock something off a shelf. Don't even get me started on the porcelain clown incident! All little kids do these things. Why people hear boy and assume tyrant is beyond me.

My boys are clean. When the clothes brandish a stain or hole, they also earn their way right into the trash can. I don't promote cave-manism. We eat with these nifty little contraptions called utensils. I like tied shoes and clean faces (hence we carry around wet-wipes and probably will until they're 20.) I frequently give out manner-minders. "Tyler didn't that lady just give you a cookie.......?" "Weston that sure was nice of Connor to share his Cheerios with you, don't you think.......?" I guess I don't need someone judging how my children will act based upon their appearances. That's so junior high! Ha ha. I frequently remind the boys that how they look and act reflects on me.

True that each of them has a different personality. Tyler is calm, wise and cautious. He looks out for his younger brothers with a likeness to his own Daddy. He loves being on the computer and getting lost in a good book. Weston is our bull-in-a-china-closet. Sometimes he acts before he thinks. He is curious about how things work. He's an active learner. And Connor seems to be our little circus act. He loves to climb and impress us with his daring feats. He tries to make us smile and laugh. He cuddles and seems to enjoy it. (Or maybe that's me holding onto my last baby!) I don't know why it surprises me so much that they are turning out so drastically different, but it's a wonderful thing for our family. For example, think of the fights we'd have if we all liked to be on the computer!

You might find me down on the floor playing Hot Wheels or at the park building extravagant sand castles with them. I've been known to pick up a bug or two to put inside the bugbarn when my normally calm reserve shatters at the thought of touching a spider. I can climb trees with the best of 'em. But we also pick flowers in the park and prepare fake food feasts and they even let me dress them up once a year for family pictures. It's not even close to raising a girl, that's a given. But I prefer to think God gave me boys because that's the gender I know how to parent best. I grew up fishing and camping and building. I have one younger brother so he and I shared toys. On occasion he picked up a Barbie and I, a He-Man. I know this!

I had daydreamed about having a girl for so long until I "borrowed" a friend's girl to take shopping. "Jen" is 7. I planned a day at the mall for us while my husband stayed home with the boys. "Jen" was asking me to buy everything under the sun from a little foot-shaped notepad to a neon sign shaped like lips. The rational side of me would say "Now Jen, what do you need that for?" And she'd say "It's cool, will you buy it for me?" or "Sara has one." She didn't carry any of the shopping bags. She didn't offer to share a bite of her cinnamon-flavored pretzel with me. In fact, she gave up on shopping much earlier than I thought a girl should. Not even two hours after we'd arrived, she was ready to call it quits. Maybe it's because I wasn't buying the little princess everything she asked for. I'd have been broke!

Wow had I really fantasized life with a card-carrying girl all wrong. I would have had more fun with the boys! They offer to carry the bags. Being the only lady of the house, I get to be their princess. Who do you think is the proud recipient of all those mudpies with little dandelions arranged in a heart on top? Who is the first person they come to when they have a fight with the pavement and the pavement wins? Who is always offered a sip of whatever new Italian soda they decide to try at the local coffeehouse? Who wants Mom to pick out their clothes? Ok, ok I agree that one might just be temporary.

I might have my hands full, but at least it's with bundles of love disguised as gooey mudpies!