Baby's EAT A LOT....they do not care if you are tired. They want to eat.
They do not care if you are tired. They need to be changed, and then they barf.
Toddlers listen to commercials and can repeat them in the most embarrassing of places.
Chuck, at 2 picked up a huge package of feminine napkins at the grocery store and said, "GET THESE, There super absorbant!"
TV OFF!
Boys need to be told their wardrobes do not consist of super man underwear and cowboy boots.
Boys also need to told they must wear clothes to go outside!
If boys could choose their own wardrobes, they would be superman underwear and band aids all over their bodies.
Boys are HONEST. Wonderfully HONEST! I seem to remember one of them looking at my legs and saying, "mom, your legs are just like Rifles!" Did he mean they were long?
We learned this at family dinner time:
During our prayer Joseph thanked God that he and Marcus made it up onto the school roof and back down safely. To which, everybody's eyes opened, but nobody said a word, until after prayer was over. :)
Boys are physical. They need wonderful, LOUD activity. We were so fortunate to have a big backyard.
Boys love their mom. They are always good for a great snuggle.
Boys aren't snippy gossips. They say things like it is, forgive and move on, never
to think about it again. I love this about boys.
One of our son's best friends to this day, and our son, had an argument. Our son's friend called him a sun flower, because he was wearing his favorite orange sweat pants and shirt.... our son got mad and threw something at him. His friend called me and said, "Mrs. M. It is time for Joseph to go home. :)
LOL I went to pick him up. They had already made up and it is now a big funny story.
Boys don't cry if they don't understand their math. They don't cry if there is a new challenge. If they have to do it again, you might get a groan, but not a full fledged dramatic alligator tear cry.
Boys will do anything to create nun chucks, including getting into mom's hygiene products, tying them together and taking them outside. :/
When boys turn 10, they need deodorant.
Boys love to make movies. If you have a video camera, it will provide HOURS of unending creative fun for them.
(think Spielman)
Boys will cooperate with most anything you ask, including killing 10 turkeys, and getting them freezer ready all in one night before leaving for vacation.
Boys are quieter with their compliments, but you know they love you forever.
Boys are not run by emotion, so when they determine to do something, they do it.
Boys become men far quicker than we are ready for them to.
It is important to let them be men, even while they are still boys to their mom.
Boys will eat Top Ramen every single day without complaint if that is what it takes to get through college.
If you let your boys know you are coming to eat at their restaurant, they will put a table cloth, candle, and the best cloth napkins on it. They will serve you in a manner fit for Kings and Queens, just because they love you. (of course great tips help)
Boys will bring their future mate to meet you, just to get your input.
When boys marry, they go and cleave to their wives, which is what they should do.
And there is a little pain in a mom's heart, because the time was so very short, and
they are now men.
Girls are a different sort of creature.
They wake up wondering what they will wear for the day.
Then they change their minds several times and you have much laundry to do.
Girls play is quite different. They are not out wrestling on the ground. Instead they walk in pretty dresses with umbrellas, pretending to be Anne of Greene Gables.
They love to pretend to be a mommy, so every animal is their child. They love to play "house", so they will rearrange things for you, and then, when you go to cook, you can't find anything.
They do this to the groceries too, and their organizational skills are usually different than your own.
Girls can play very well together, but they are much more interested in who is in charge and who gets to make the decision.
Girls spend 3/4 of lunch time deciding 1. who is in charge 2. what they are going to play 3. what each person's character is, and then it is time for lunch to end and they complain they didn't have time to play!
Girls tend to hold things against each other that boys don't even think about.
"She looked at me!" " "Well golly, I'm really gonna have to do something about that!" LOL
Girls have to be taught to use kind words, speaking sweetly, not thinking the worst of somebody, where boys just seem to be natural at that.
Girls LOVE their daddy! They love to go places with him, of course this is all decided ahead of time between them. Its the turn thing again.
Girls are more "Crafty" oriented than boys. They can sit for hours cutting paper, gluing things, painting pretty pictures, making crafts for the tree at Christmas, knitting, sewing, embroidery; it seems to be a natural thing for them.
Girls love to do "school".... When school is over, they "Pretend school" and even do real math problems! go figure.... LOL
Girls make a big change in maturity when they start to change physically. Some things they won't do anymore, they are much too lady like; sometimes they forget and climb that tree. :)
Girls will sit and talk and talk and talk AND TALK, and tell you all sorts of things about their day, what they are thinking, how they are feeling, and ask you "what do you think mom?"
They need reassurance that they are beautiful, lovely creatures. But they also need to be taught that true beauty comes from within the heart, and the real time we spend needs to be on our hearts, not on our hair.
If you take a nap around girls, you will wind up with a manicure and a pedicure.
Your hair may be styled in a most interesting fashion, and they DON'T want you to change it.
Girls like to go "shopping", just to look. I'm a girl and I don't particularly like this, but all of mine do.
Girls are so very interesting. They have taught me a lot about being a girl. For a long time I was uncomfortable with my own girlhood.
Having been in a family of all men since I was 18, made me the odd girl out. :)
Having the girls though, has helped me to see and learn much I didn't understand about myself from my own childhood.
I am so thankful for my boys and my girls. I am so thankful for the blessings the Lord has given to us. I am so thankful for the lessons the children have taught me over the years. I have been humbled and blessed by having been a part in their lives. I do not deserve to have had such a wonderful life.
One of the most important things I can do for my kids is be vulnerable. To let them see my flaws and to show them that we all have them and that God knows it. We cannot hide them from him, and they shouldn't hide their flaws from us.
For them to see me study the Word of God looking for answers when I don't have them, is so important; to apologize to them if I haven't answered them with a soft heart. It is important for them to see me pray. It is important for them to know that I pray for them daily. It is important for them to know that I think EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM are wonderful, unique, talented in their own ways, precious, lovely individuals and that we, both mom and dad support them in all they do.
It is important for them to know that I love dad and dad loves me.
I am convinced that God gives us our children as gifts, to mold, teach and shape US, while we are in the process of trying to teach our own children. They are part of the water he pours on the clay so we can blend, not be so rigid, so we can be crushed down, and built back up through dependence upon Him. As we learn to depend upon Him, for guidance, for wisdom and instruction, He brings that clay pot through the fire, and the shape that the pot takes eventually, in the end is refined and pleasing to the Lord. I'm still in the water pouring and fire stage. :)
I used to think that God did it backwards. He gave kids energy and adults fatigue.
Now I know that he did that so we would not depend upon our own selves, but be ever dependent upon him to get through our days.
