Boys Will Be Boys

I didn't grow up with boys.  I have two sisters, and we played School and House and the occasional Post Office in which we'd write each other letters and deliver them to pretend mailboxes outside our bedroom doors.  We planned elaborate Barbie weddings and pretended to be the Little Mermaid every time we swam in a pool.  We did other, less-girly things too, like stripping down to our undies and pretending to be lions at the circus, and playing Monster with our dad, and ripping worms apart so we could use them as bait.  But we were still girls.  And we only had each other's girly influence.  It took me a long time to realize that boys can be quite different from girls - not only in their interests, but in their level of energy as well.  Now that I have two little boys, I am receiving an education in the world of boys, even at their young age.

Our boys love to destroy things.  I've even nicknamed our youngest "Kai the Destroyer" because the level of destruction that follows his wake goes beyond the developmental stage he is in.

Our boys love to climb.  Last year I spent about a week trying to institute a rule that no one's allowed to climb on the back of the couch.  It was a completely wasted effort and, I soon realized, a hill I didn't want to die on.  Go ahead, be a dragon on the mountain.  Be a superhero en route to save the world.  Be whatever you want up there.  We don't have nice furniture anyway.  I give up the fight!

Our boys love to climb on everything.  Kai the Destroyer was found on top of our dining room table last month, attempting to drink the remnants of Eli's coffee.  We didn't yet know that he was capable of getting up there.  That experience invigorated him enough to try climbing onto many other surfaces as well.  He climbs on everything.

Our boys love to smash, destroy and "knock it over!"  Towers, cars, boxes, the bad guys the superheroes are after...you name it, and it can be smashed.

Our boys love to roar like lions, stomp like dinosaurs, and "run so fast" like superheroes.  (Kai has just figured out some animal sounds this past month, the lion being his favorite, and he's definitely discovered the joy of roaring.)  In other words, there is a lot of movement and a lot of noise around our house.

Our boys love to "rhino" each other, meaning they ram their foreheads into each other while, apparently, being rhinos.  (They jury's still out on what Kai thinks is happening, but he's a willing participant in this game every time.)

In short, although these boys are only 2.5 years old and 15 months old, they are already a bit different than I was as a kid.  They are more energetic and more rambunctious.  It means more bumps and bruises, to be sure, and more expended energy on our part as we keep up with them, but it's a lot of fun.  Watching them wrestle and roar and chase each other around is a joy for us.  We might not be playing School or House with these boys, but playing Dinosaurs and Construction Site and Superheroes is fabulous.  And I'm learning a lot.  I even know what a parasaurolophus is and I can tell you that Green Lantern's power ring can translate alien languages.  It's an education for me, but a good one!