Being a Mother to a Son

Being a mother to a son is a special thing.  You get to experience little pieces of life through a boy's eyes.  Sometimes I have to remind myself this is a good thing.  For instance, the other day, Little Man found a worm on the sidewalk.  It was still alive.  As a girl, wiggly worms are not appealing to me.  As the mother to a son, I knew I had to share my son's enthusiasm for his new little pet.  Our neighbor had told me a while back that when he and his brothers were little, they would bring bugs and gross stuff to show their mom all the time.  Instead of freaking out, she would kindly admire their find.  That way the boys weren't scared of things they didn't need to be scared of, and it made them feel kind of special.  I decided that was a good approach with a little boy-I was going to embrace and encourage Cooper's curiosity and sense of adventure as long as it was safe and not too gross.  However, I questioned this decision when Coop started trying to pick up the worm.  It was all I could do to say, "Wow, Buddy, you got a worm!" And not, "EWWWW, gross, put that thing down!"  Boys need to play with bugs and dirt; it's in their DNA.  I know this because then our neighbor's son came out (in his shirt and underwear because that's also what boys do...well, actually it's because he's potty training and had had an accident a few minutes before...but boys do love to walk around in their underwear), and he saw the worm.  Then the boys started fighting over who got to hold the worm.  I never thought I would lecture my child over sharing a worm.

Also, in a boy's DNA is the use of a bathroom as a library.  We got Cooper a potty for his birthday.  He uses it about 3-4 times a day, which is good, but I think he only does it when he wants a piece of candy.  The other day, Karl called for me to hurry and come see what our son was doing.  He had gotten one of Karl's magazines out from the vanity in the bathroom and was reading while pottying.  

And to think I thought I would never get the child to show an interest in literacy!