Man Lessons

Who says we don't genderfy our kids? I know that isn't a word, but you catch my drift. I have talked about how my little boy is changing into a full fledged, play in the dirt, climb all over everything kinda kid. Well, now he is getting lessons from The Husband on how to be a "tough guy." The conversation between the two of them over the last week has been whether or not I like tough guys best. The Boy thought up until last night that I did not like tough guys. I am not sure what he thought I liked, but tough guys wasn't it. I think The Husband's hope behind this lesson was to get The Boy to stop crying hysterical crocodile tears every time he fell down in a place where someone could see him fall down. If we witness it, it is a much, much worse accident or boo boo. Thus, the tough guy mentality.

So, The Boy asks me if I like tough guys. I tell him, sure I like tough guys, but I like sensitive guys too. I don't want him to lose that side of his personality. I really believe that once you are taught to be one way it is harder to go back to the way you were. And, won't his future girlfriends, etc. be much more pleased if he can be sensitive? Being a woman, I say yes. Am I against The Husband teaching him how to be tough? Not at all, I think there needs to be a good balance. Now I just have to find a good way to explain the meaning of the word sensitive to The Boy. He gets the word tough, so much so that he is now telling me how tough he is at the drop of the hat.

The Boy fell down as his was running from the garage to the back porch last night and scraped his knee. Tears fell, blood dripped, it was fun times. But, as soon as The Husband said the word tough, The Boy stopped crying and became more interested in what kind of band-aid we were going to put on his new boo boo. The Tough Guy lessons continued...

The Husband: Do you know what you should say when someone asks you what happens to your knee?
The Boy: I don't know.
The Husband: You should say, "Chicks dig scars."
The Boy: Why? (I love this about him by the way.)
The Husband: It is cool.
The Boy: Okay.

Five minutes passes.

The Husband: What happened to your knee?
The Boy: Chicks need scars.

Not exactly sure what kind of message that response would send. It made us laugh, but I am not sure other folks would feel the same way. The Husband and The Boy practiced his response the rest of the evening and this morning when he was asked "What happened to your knee" by his teacher, he said the right thing. I guess he is well on his way to being that tough guy!

Can I Sleep in the Tent Again

Camping expedition number one was a great success. So much so that The Boy continues to ask daily if he can sleep in the tent again tonight. I for one was completely surprised that he made it in the tent all night. He was so excited and so proud of himself. I was too.

The Husband set the tent up at 5 PM Saturday night and The Boy was ready to go to sleep five minutes after the sleeping bags were put in the tent. I think the best thing about the whole camping in the backyard excursion was watching my husband with my son. It is one of my favorite things to do. He is so good with him. Caring, funny and childlike when he needs to be. I know there are a lot of things The Boy won't remember about his early childhood, but I know the way his Daddy loves him will be one thing he will always remember. The night was filled with smores, fireflies and Uno. Most importantly, it was filled with laughter and love.

The Great Outdoors

The Boy has become increasingly interested in camping over the last few weeks. I believe we would have made plans to go this season as a family, but since I am with child, I decided it wouldn't be the most fun thing for me and my girth. Plus with the frequent trips to the bathroom at this stage, the great outdoors didn't seem so fun.

While The Boy didn't really know about our plans to try out a family camping trip, he is still very interested in the whole concept. Because of this interest we decided to have a "camp out" in the backyard. Provided the weather holds out this weekend, my boys (and me for a little while) will be shacking up in a tent in the backyard with sleeping bags and lanterns and bug spray and maybe smores.

I was sharing this idea with The Boy last night at bedtime. He in turn shared with me his knowledge of camping. He knows all about tents and sleeping bags. The interesting thing is that he told me all camping trips have to have marshmallows. Not too much of a stretch for a 3 year old. The surprising thing was he described in detail how to cook the marshmallows. Every detail, including the fact that you should pick sticks that are still green with which to cook the marshmallow. How does he know that?

Pray for a clear night!

Daytime Dilemma

One of the whoas of a working mom is wondering day to day what your child or children are doing at school or daycare or whatever you want to call it. We have been blessed to have found some great places to put The Boy while I continue to work. I would like to stay at home, but we are not able to do that at this juncture in our lives. And, I would be kidding myself if I didn't think that I would go crazy if I was home all the time. My ideal would be part time work, full time mommy as opposed to full time work, full time mommy. That aside, I still wonder what goes on in the six-eight hours The Boy is away from me.

During the school year, The Boy attends a Montessori program. But, this program only runs August to May. So, in the summer, we have to find alternative care for him. We placed him this year in the daycare center affiliated with the Montessori program. Overall, the program is fine. I would say that The Boy has picked up a few habits that I would rather not see, but we are working with those as they come. The teachers are loving and dedicated and knowledgeable. He feels safe and tells me he has a good day every day. Overall, I feel very comfortable with where he is.

Every week on Monday, the teachers send home a lesson plan for the week. This month, they have been focusing on the the theme "Under the Sea." Each week during the theme month has a different topical focus. This week is Pirates....ARGHHHH! The Boy is genuinely enthusiastic about this particular topic as am I. But, I am a little disgruntled to see that for music this week, they will be focusing on songs by the notorious Wiggles. I have worked so hard in my son's 3 1/2 years of life to be sure he has not had any interaction with this particular children's program, but alas day care has in one fell swoop washed away all my effort to keep him immune. I guess if that is all I am worried about, I have a lot to be thankful for when it comes to caregivers. I still dislike the Wiggles. Hopefully they won't make too much of an impact of my child. All I need is for him to walk around singing in an Austrailian accent.

I am a Big Boy

We have had a couple of groundbreaking weeks at our house. The Boy is truly growing up, faster than we can keep track. I think as we continue to get ready for the new arrival (not fast enough I might add), The Husband and I are seeing just how big The Boy has become. He is so ready to be a big brother. He has a countdown to September in his mind. He talks to the baby in my stomach. He talks about what he is going to teach the baby. It is so sweet.

The two big things that have happened over the course of the last couple of weeks are HUGE is a boy's life. First, The Boy got to pick the color and decor of his new room. We decided to move him to the slightly larger, used to be our guest room, bedroom. I have to say that it did take The Husband a considerable amount of time to paint the bedroom, but it got done. I took a day off to relax a while back and purchased curtains for the closets in the bedroom. We took the doors off the closets. When the Boy got home from school that day, I showed him the empty room with the new curtains and he determined it was time to move into his new room. He actually started moving things. We still had to clean the room, but he was rip, roaring and ready to go. So, needless to say, we moved all of his things into his room that night after The Husband got home from work. Here he is in all his glory that night. Ignore the blue curtain in the background, it has since been changed to khaki.

The second big thing is that The Boy officially has a big kid bike. No more tricycles for him. He is two wheeling it...with training wheels of course. Look how cute.

Have I Told You That I'm Nesting

Yes, it is true. I have officially been nesting for a few weeks now. The fun thing about this time around is I feel like I have a little helper. I recently went through The Boy's old clothes trying to discern what can be used for the Baby. I stacked everything in a neat little pile sorted by size and color to be washed in the basement and left it there until the next wave hit me. Well, The Boy went through the bin of non-usable clothes and added things to the pile he thought the Baby would need. A hat here, a bib there....and then, this is what wandered up the steps.

Apparently Atty is ready for the Baby too.