Pistols and Daggers and Swords, OH MY!

I recall receiving a note from a friend when I discovered so long ago that David was on the way. My second boy. No little pink bundle to dress in frilly socks and hair bows for me. No. Another blue bundle to love. And my friend knew that I was, if only for a moment, wondering just how much testosterone I'd need to deal with in my life. She sent a poem about raising boys and how much joy and fun it really was. I laughed and posted it where I would see it often while at my desk. Little did I know just how right that poem would be. Boys are a joy and so fun to raise! But I failed to realize just how much testosterone I'd actually have in my life.

David wasn't with us for long but Jonathan soon took his place. I grew used to saying "the boys" when referring to my children and it fit me just perfectly. What doesn't seem to go with my view of life is the ever present fascination boys have with weaponry. Why is it that everything in their world can become a gun or a sword or even a dagger? When I look at a stick I see a marshmallow melter, or even a hiking pole or firewood. My boys see swords, rifles and spears. When I see a small piece of wood I think it needs to find its way to the tinder box. Matthew thinks he needs to find a tool so he can carve a new weapon that the military might actually want to buy from him. *sigh*

The other day we were all playing outside. Laura was collecting 'shicks' to take to Poppa's house so they could burn them for roasting marshmallows. (That's my girl!) Jonathan wasn't particularly in to doing anything that vaguely looked like work so he was avoiding her at all costs, choosing to climb a tree instead. He casually held a stick in his hand and whacked the tree branch with it every so often. Matthew was sorting through the tinder box in search of something. Soon he asked Don if he could have a small piece he found. Once Don gave the okay and disappeared in to the house, Matthew started looking for tools. Within 30 minutes that piece of wood was now officially a dagger. Why? I couldn't really say. I was honestly just glad it wasn't joining the ranks of all of the other lego/pvc pipe/wooden replicas of official rifles, pistols and such he's been making with his spare time lately. But a dagger??? Did we really need another weapon of some sort around here???

Once Laura came along I became dreaming of the day I could hold a craft or cooking party instead of a water or mad scientist party. A time when wooden craft pieces could become creations that the maker intended, not a makeshift weapon to be tried out on the back fence. A time when calm chat would reign over crazed, running, testosterone laiden preteens and teenagers. And then reality struck. I saw it with my own eyes but I hesitated to believe it. So I had to look again. Yes, there it was once again. I saw it. I really did. Jonathan had come down from his perch in the tree and was... *gasp* ...swordfighting with Laura. Say it isn't so!!!

Alas, it is. Laura, for all of her girly girl tendencies, is being raised with tween and teenage boys. Boys who love all things male. I think I'm outnumbered. I think I'll quit planning for craft parties now. Then, if they should happen to actually occur, I can be thrilled beyond my wildest dreams. Yes, that's a plan. I'll work on it....

Tomorrow. For now I'll enjoy doing Laura's hair and dreaming of a beauty salon party I can do for all of her 'dirl' friends. I even have pink lacy hair clips to put in it. I guess I've managed to put a little bit of girly girl in her after all. I think I just heard her say her favorite color is pink. YES! Go girl, GO!