Let's Hear it For My Boys!

I'm feeling a bit inferior. I have 8, lovely, loyal followers. I may have more, but only 8 of you are willing to go public. My friend has 20. This saddens me because, I believe I may have been blogging (officially) slightly longer than her. It's not a compitiion though...right...?

Anyway, it was something this friend posted on her facebook page that spurred the thoughts that inspired this post. She mentioned something about preferring rowdy boys to surly girls. This friend has 2 very adorable boys who are the major focus, but not total focus, of her blog. Maybe she has more followers because she has more kids...?

Sorry, I'll stick to this post and stop harping on the fact that I need more followers. Although I need more followers.

There was a good spirited back and forth between the mom's of boys, mom's of girls and mom's with both. Nothing mean, just basically a collection of cliches and amusing anecdotes including one about a naked toddler girl at a church function. However, it got me thinking about my situation. I have openly said that I always wanted a boy first. After that I do not really care about the gender of my future children.

I would like to have a daughter, but I also remember a teenage me, and would happily avoid that in the reverse role. My mom once told me that from the time I was 12 until I was about 18, she did not initiate conversation with me for fear of what my reaction may be. A simple, "What would you like for dinner?" could cause me, or any teenage girl really, to tailspin into a sobbing screaming mess thereby throwing off the emotional course of an entire family for a week.

OR that very innocent and easy question could ignite a desire in a teenage girl to not only tell you what she wanted for dinner, but make it herself for the whole family from scratch.

I have decided that I would be a-ok if I had all boys. Parker is so much fun. I am not sure if that is because he is a boy or if that is just his nature, but now I feel like I know how to handle a boy. A girl would be a whole new puzzle. Plus I already have so many boy clothes.

*Disclaimer- if I have a daughter or two daughters, please understand honey that I love you. You are (or will be) a bit of a witch at times, but I will always love you and you were wanted. Just not as much as your bother(s).

I'M KIDDING! Stop crying. Mommy loves you too.

Aside from making me comfortable with the possibility of never being the Mother of the Bride, or the go-to grandma, which will all know typically goes to the mother's mother, my friend facebook comments made me really appreciate the two guys in my life.

I love Josh, but he is odd. The man eats bananas out of paper towels because, "It's awkward to eat them out of the peel." He hates, I mean HATES tomatoes so much that when he orders anything at a restaurant, even pancakes, he will say, "No tomatoes." He plays rugby where people get torn to bits, but he could not watch me get an epidural. When he hurt his knee and had a brace from his hip to his toes, he still drove his car, which is a stick! He hurt his right knee! Finally, he has a nearly choreographed dance that he will occasionally do to the Cops, theme song, if he has had enough Sam Adams and I am the only one in the room. No photos please.

I love Josh, but I find I love him even more or in a new way when he is with Parker. After the facebook conversation, or thread, I started thinking about how Josh and Parker interact with each other and how much amusement I get out of watching them.

For example, when the Presidential Debates started, it was right around the time that Parker started babbling. After the debates, Josh would prop up a very unpropable Parker and ask him questions about what he (Parker) thought about various things that were debated. This would start out with Parker making small babble noises, but by the end of the "conversation" Pmoney would be full on screaming/yelling/loudly babbling. Sometimes even interrupting Josh's questions, like he did not like the direction Josh was going.

Then in February Parker and Josh were playing on our bed while I cooked dinner. After a few minutes, they came downstairs and Josh was minus a tooth. Our 7 month old had kicked it out. To you veteran readers, you already knew this, but it is still funny, yes?

At the beginning of the summer Josh planted a few veggies and some basil. Mind you, Josh did this, not me. I do not garden. Maybe when I have a house I actually like, I will feel differently, but now, the veggie garden is Josh's. When Josh comes home from work, he kisses me and says hi to Parker as he picks him up. The two of them head out to the deck to check on the plants. Then they come back in to grab a bag of dog treats and head back out to the deck. Josh taught Parker to take a treat out of the bag and hold it out for Abby. She takes the treat, gently, but quickly from Parker and he squeals in delight. The first time I saw this, I thought for sure Parker would eat the treat himself, but he does not. He gets so much enjoyment out of giving them to Abby, it does not even seem to occur to him to eat the treat. Josh taught him those things- patients, giving to others, finding pure delight in simple things.

My newest favorite story of the two of them occurred just a few days ago. My last day of summer class was this past Monday. Since May, every Monday night Josh has had to do the dinner, bath, bed routine solo. I think he enjoyed being able to do it his way and having Parker all to himself. That is until this past Monday. Usually, I would call on my way home and Parker would already be in bed. However, this past Monday, he was still awake. When I asked why, Josh said that I was going to have to put Parker down because he just couldn't. He needed a break. Again, "Why?" I asked. This was very unusual.

It seems that after the bath, Josh put a naked Parker in the crib and was gathering his pj's, diaper and various butt creams. Josh's back was to Pmoney and he took full advantage of the divided attention. Josh said he thought he was hearing paper being torn, which Psizzle will do if a book, or any paper really, is within reach. Although this time, tearing paper is not what Josh was hearing.

As Josh turned around to see which book Pman was destroying this time, he instead saw Pman standing up, holding onto the side of the crib with both hands and whizzing between the rungs of the crib.

Pman was relieving himself on the carpet and managed to steer clear of the sheets I had just changed. A BIG thank you to him for that. Changing his sheets fills me with rage.

Mind you he has NEVER done this for me. Josh must have taught him this too. If we do ever have a daughter, I hope she at least has the dignity to squat in a corner and blame it on the dog.