# 0008: My Boy

Have I mentioned how much I love my boy? I think he is the neatest thing! I've never met anyone like him! I don't want to rub it in, but I love having boy(s) and girl(s). They are soooooo different and I love getting to see those differences every day, up close and personal. 

Boys do the funniest things that you could never imagine anyone doing. They are like a completely different breed of people to me! I love being the mother of a son. It's like no other experience. I know I'm only a couple years into it. I know it will be a roller coaster and I know this partly because it already has been.

I feel like moms sometimes treat raising sons as a major challenge- kind of the same way some dads feel about raising daughters. My brother had a friend who was raised in a house full of boys, no sisters. Before his wife gave birth to their first daughter (and now set of twin girls), he made the comment, "I mean, what if it's a girl? Can you imagine that? What do you do them?"

Sometimes it feels like the opposite sex is so completely opposite that there would be no way to relate or even come close to trying to understand their thinking or "why they would act that way". Dads generally do not know what to do when there is a girl crying. They might ask, "why," but sometimes the girl doesn't even know. I know men are completely lost when this sort of thing happens and I know women are completely lost when boys do something seemingly insane to the thought process of a female. 

It can be a bit of a challenge to raise the opposite sex. It requires some more patience and understanding and acceptance. Those things are challenging to get a handle on sometimes. I always think of my boy as just a little man. They're all just little men. They all think cars are neat, take silly risks, talk, growl, or grunt really loud, like being a hero, a little wild and crazy, don't care if their hands are dirty, don't look before they leap and yes, I know these are all stereotypes... I'm not saying that every boy fits into these characteristics exactly, but it's a scientific fact that the male mind is wired completely differently from the female's mind (it happens very early in the womb before we can see any outside evidence of gender). 

Since we are so different, we really only have two choices: To completely give up and disconnect to the point that we barely have a relationship or enjoy every surprise twist and turn there is. The things my boy does, I couldn't see coming in a million years! It's the same with his dad. The opposite sex brings some exciting stuff into our lives- stuff we would never think of without them here. They are extremly valuable!

It amazes me everyday how this boy can give the greatest, most loving hugs ever one minute and the next he's asking me if it's okay to eat a worm. He sits completely still and silent, snuggling while we read a bunch of books he picked out then the second the last book is over he's on the floor crashing his cars into one another. He's eating like a field hand one minute and the next he's completely passed out and nothing can wake him. One moment he's shaking his head furiously at his sister, shouting and growling as loud as he can, but as soon as she says she's sorry and gives him a hug she's more than welcome to play with him again. 

I had a friend wonder out loud about a little 3-year-old boy she knew and if a kid that small could be "bi-polar or something". Of course, I don't have any idea- I would have to guess, though, that it's just a little boy growing up in a world that operates completely differently to how he thinks. Example: hugs are acceptable. Eating worms is not.

I've barely gotten started being a mom to a boy, but I can tell you that it is fun. My boy is sweet before and after his temper tantrums. He's funny whether he means to be or not. He's wild, loud and crazy and still, quiet and thoughtful. He's loving while he's determined and all business. He's a mixed bag!... but, I think that fathers of daughters would say that same thing about their girls. You never know what you're going to get with the opposite sex but, ya-gotta-love-it!