Here's some video love

Speaking of boys, here's a video of Isaac this past summer on his favorite method of transportation around the neighborhood, the scooter.

I think I'm scared that he's doing this at 2.

Unexpected blessings

Surprises are the best, aren't they? For me, they're always so much better than experiencing something I've been anticipating, something I'm expecting to be amazing.

Such as, Grass is Always Greener on the OTHER Side Syndrome (Hereafter referred to as GAGOSS).

Before I had kids, I worked as a teacher in a local school district. I would leave at a little before 7:00am and drive a little way to work. I always saw cute moms with their cute little jogging strollers and their cute little athletic wear and their cute little bums running with their cute little babies.

At 7:00 in the morning.

And, in my cute little GAGOSS mind, I would think "Ohhhhhh, I just WISH I could be a mom so that I could jog with my baby!" And I would imagine that woman going home to her Pottery Barn house, taking a long sudsy shower with the scent of Clinique Happy bubbling all around her. (HARDEEHAR HAR!!!)

Oh, what a life that would be! And all I need... is a BABY!

GAGOSS.

Ask me if I EVER got up at 6:30 to take a baby on a jog? No, ma'am. I did jog occasionally with 2 kids in a double jogging stroller for a short stint during which I was training to run a half marathon.

But, y'all. It was not a pretty sight. I had no cute little athletic nothin'. I was wincing and sweating, huffing and puffing. Clinique Happy was nowhere to be found.

GAGOSS let me down. In a very big way.

Surprises are way better. When you think something will be a certain way, and it's so much better than you expected. Or if something just hits you as amazing that you never expected at all.

That's sweetness.

In no particular order, like...

Sweet sibling moments.

Timers on cameras

Big stairs. Little kids.

Rock skipping lessons

School Uniform cuteness. And little brother excitement. (Thinking he was actually going to stay at school that day! oops...)

"What??!! Snow in early October?!"

Yes, even the earliest snow in 24 years had its sweetness, too...

Faces


A homemade latte while camping.
Not in the least bit unexpected, and uber-anticipated, but oh-so-sweet!

Boys vs. Girls

I'll never forget something my friend Kimmy said to me as she watched me in the hallway at MOPS one morning - I was with my two (at the moment) demure, shy girls, probably around age 2 and 4. They were quietly holding my hands, waiting for me to finish my conversation with someone before we went to their classes.

Kimmy's son had just kareened down the hallway making racing sounds worthy of a NASCAR track, turned the corner and disappeared out of sight. We could just make out his distant screeching and crashing sounds when she said to me, "Jenny, miss mother of quiet, sweet girls, I just can't WAIT until you have a BOY!"

We all laughed and I knew she was right. A boy would totally rock my world.

But, I didn't know how MUCH a boy would rock my world. I knew he'd be different, I just didn't GET it, you know? I guess not until you live with it 24/7 can you fully understand the difference.

I get it now. OK?! OK, Kimmy? I GET IT.

As a toddler/preschooler, Corene was told something one time and she never repeated it. Sometimes all it took was a stern look and she would burst into tears, never to repeat the dreaded sin.

Ava was "fiestier", I had to tell her something at least 3 times, because she's just more of a tester.

"Do you REALLY mean it, Mom? Let's try it again and see what she does..." was what she did on a regular basis. But, then she'd usually figure out that I really meant it, and she knew what her expectations were.

Taz now. He's hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. He does some testing as well, of course, but that's not the heart of it. The thing with him is that he just DOESN'T GET IT. Here's how it goes:

Something looks fun.
(notice there's no step here about THINKING ABOUT IT)
Fun thing is implemented.
Mother is not happy.
Mother tells Taz if he does it again, there will be a consequence.
Taz acknowleges the instruction.

Something looks fun, and there is vague recollection that it was INDEED fun.
(thinking? nah...)
Fun thing is implemented.
Mother is NOT happy.
Consequence is implemented.
Taz says he won't do it again.

Something looks fun.
Fun thing is implemented.
etc.
etc.

He reminds me of Dory, from "Finding Nemo", the sweet blue fish who suffered from "short term memory loss". Oh mothers of boys, tell me these quotes don't ring a bell for you:

Dory: "Wait! Something tells me we should go through the trench, not over it."
Marlin: "Bad trench! Saaaay... hey look, Dory! Something shiny! I think it went up there, over the trench!"
Dory: "Oh, really? WHERE? LET'S GO!"

or this one:

Marlin: "Here are the rules, these are very important: You can bounce on the tops, but DON'T TOUCH the tentacles!"
Dory: "Okaaaay, something about tentacles! READY, SET, GO!!"

Have you ever heard about the testosterone wash that unborn baby boys receive at some point in their development that actually severs some of the connections between the right brain and the left brain? Here's a tidbit:

The corpus callosum is the largest structure connecting the right and left sides of brain. This pipeline of more than 300 million fibers functions like a powerful, lightening fast, monster cable that enables both sides of the brain to communicate with each other and process for each other.
The gush of testosterone actually causes sections of the corpus callosum to decrease
in size by dissolving portions of the connection or by decreasing the growth of the
nerves.
From His Brain, Her Brain by Walter Larimore, MD

I find this absolutely hilarious in parenting this "other sex", as well as, quite frankly, very helpful in my own understanding of him and how he ticks.

Now I understand why he just delves into something he's been told multiple times before not to do. He's "acting", not "processing".

Here's another amazing fact from Dr. Larimore's article:

Male brains contain about 6.5 times more gray matter — the “thinking matter”. Female brains have more than 9.5 times as much white matter — the “processing" matter.

I don't know why this surprises me, it's so obvious that men as a whole are very different than women as a whole... but it's just fascinating to hear part of why.

It's amazing, the way God made us. It causes me to be all the more in awe of our Sovereign creator who designed men and women, boys and girls, so different and so complementary.

And it makes me giggle.