March 12, 2010

All about boys

You guys seriously made me laugh with all your comments to my last post; particularly those of you with little, sweet boys.  And Bare Naked Mummy with her Things I've Learned This Week post (she's grateful, at the moment, that she's got girls...) (very clever post by the way!  And thanks for the link!)

Aren't they adorable those little guys....... ::snicker::

Yeah, enjoy that because yes, Lee & Sarah that was only a sprinkling of what you are in for.

Right now they are mommy's little guys but in a few years?? 

First they start to smell.  And no, that little puppy dog smell they might have occasionally now isn't what I'm talking about.  I'm talking about seriously makes your eyes water and you have to drive with all the windows down even though it's freezing smell. 

So then you begin to talk and talk and talk and talk about hygiene to them.  They don't listen.  Why?  Because they are boys and they aren't interested in things like changing their underwear or deoderant.

True story - as I was doing laundry one day I realized that I didn't see any of Man-Child's (then Boy-Child) underwear or socks.  I asked him about it.  He shrugged.  Realizing that the only way to get a straight answer was to ask a direct question I asked him when was the last time he had changed his underwear - turns out it had been at least a week!!!  All together now - eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!

I had to remind him daily to put on deoderant.  One morning we were almost out the door and I asked him if he'd brushed his teeth (yes, was the reply for once); then I asked about the deoderant.  Silence.  I told him to go back upstairs quickly and put it on.  Standing at the bottom of the stairs I could look right at his bathroom door.  I walked to the stairs to tell him to hurry and stopped in total shock.  What did I witness?  Boy-Child spraying his deoderant onto his shirt!  Apparently, it was too much effort to take the shirt off and apply the deoderant where it belonged so he figured spraying it on top of the shirt would work fine.  NO!!! It doesn't!

Eventually though those boys get big enough to really get interested in girls and ::ahem:: other things and then you deal with the constant showers (as a mom - you really don't want to know - trust me!) and the Axe body spray (or it's equivalent) and are always asked "Smell me" "Smell my breath" "Do I smell okay?"  And after having lived with the smelly boy you face smelling anything with trepidation.  And guess what?  Axe (or it's equivalent), when applied as liberally as it generally is, also has the ability to burn the hairs in your nose right off - so it's not much better.

I have been fortunate that my boy wasn't as adventerousome as some (thank you God!)  So we haven't had to deal with the broken bones (yet.  Although, he does play football so I expect an injury or two before it's all over).  Although there was the time we went to emergency room thinking he's appendix was about to rupture....turned out to be gas (so yeah, boys can be drama queens too.....) how embarrassing (and expensive....).

From what I understand, boys are not nearly as verbal as girls (although I could almost argue this point as mine never shuts up....can you say future lawyer?).  But by verbal I mean when you ask how his day was - I get "okay."  Even as young as kindergarten that's all I could pull out of him.  From friends who are mothers of girls I understand that girls will regurgitate everything.  Boys?  They don't dish.  Period.  Just figuring out what he had for lunch can be painful.

Luckily we haven't had to deal with an actual girlfriend yet.  Yes, we had the long distance relationship; which was bad enough.  But I figure within the next year or so.....that will change.  There's probably more girl interaction than I know about - but with the advent of cell phones fortunately/unfortunately I'm not as privy to who is calling him.

My boy is fabulous and I would never switch him for a girl (especially when I remember what I was like as a teenager......), but as the saying/book goes "Men Are From Mars; Women From Venus" - it's completely true.  Boys are befuddling.  Their ways are different and no matter how hard you try to understand - as a mom you simply can't.  You just try to raise the best (and cleanest) man you can.

So Mom's of Boys - good luck.  It's a smelly, but fun ride.  Being the only girl in the house has lots of perks (no one borrows your stuff) but can be a little lonely (can you say football widow during the "Season" which gives you a lot of shopping and blogging time - another perk!).  But all in all?  I wouldn't trade my boy for anything in the world.

15 comments:

  1. For the most part, their "oats" are a lot less costly, too.

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  2. Oh, God...the odor of a teenaged boy with raging hormones!

    Taylor's GREAT about showering every night...but I STILL have to air out his room virtually every day. I can't even begin to describe the odor. And whoever invented Axe should be SHOT.

    And speaking of showers....whoever said that girls take long showers hasn't had a boy over the age of 12.

    'Nuff said.

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  3. Sounds like you're doing pretty good Gigi. :)

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  4. This was a fun reminder of things past for me. Yes, boys have their quirkiness.

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  5. With my son, I wish he would shave more. He always looks scruffy...but all in all, he is quite fashion conscience. I can also appreciate the Axe spray...someone needs to tell them "less is more" LOL

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  6. Actually when I ask Bel (6) what happened in school she shrugs and says I can't remember!!!
    BTW my brother when he used to be a teenager had a great set of answers to questions - it was UUH!
    BNM - thanks for the link back!

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  7. Girls ?

    Lalalalalalala Ican't heeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu !!

    Nooo, noooo, I'm not ready and I don't think I ever will be.

    I've been hijacked with the Italian Mama syndrome...it's worse that the body snatchers I tell you.



    Sarah, British, home educating mum to a mini Italian nationalist in deepest, darkest Lomellina

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  8. Uh oh, mine are only 4 and 3 so a long way to go yet, I bow down to your superior boy traiining

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  9. Oh I so understand this post having two teenage boys ... enough said as thats all they say "Uh!"xxx

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  10. Ah yes, the Lynx phase (Axe is called Lynx here and I bet it's just as potent!) So funny that he thought it would work through his shirt bless him!

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  11. That really made me laugh him putting the deodorant over the shirt, I can imagine mine doing that too!
    We had the trip to ER for appendicitis which turned out to be wind too...except it was my daughter! ;0)

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  12. Right now my grandson is 3 and I am loving every minute of it. I was just thinking about this the other day..boys are so much different than girls!!

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  13. LOL - I have 5 sons. The hygiene thing kicks in at about 6th grade. Then the water bill drastically goes up! No more arm-pit smell, though the shoe smell will do you in (soccer, football, baseball - pick your poison). There are times when I wish I had been one of the Zicam victims who lost their sense of smell (I am a Zicam fan, though). You might get a kick out of some of my boys to men posts (beyond the stink stage)

    http://bluecottonmemory.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/six-mom-stages-of-raising-boys-to-men/

    http://bluecottonmemory.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/are-you-ready-to-twirl/

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  14. I was laughing my @ss off at this post! The Axe thing is hysterical- maybe I can use it for some paint remover... lol. I have watched my nephews morph in smelly teen already- I hope that at the very elast I can get him to put deodorant on- his skin, not his shirt!!!

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  15. Oh blimey - my little man is still only 10 and still smells gorgeous - hope he discovers girls fairly quickly after puberty hits...

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