On Being the Mother of a Boy

If anyone had told me how different it was being the mother of a boy, I would probably not have believed them.

But it is very different. I really enjoy watching my son and his essential maleness developing. I can understand the girl things going on with my daughters, hey, I've been through it myself, but watching the Squatter growing up has been fascinating.

We were watching our new DVD of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe last night and I was thinking about this yet again. We saw it in the theatre and really loved it (especially me!) I read and read and read the Chronicles of Narnia when I was a child...I spent a lot of time wishing that Narnia were a real place and I could go there. So when I saw the movie, it brought back lots of happy memories for me. I actually cried at the end, it made me that happy.

Billy's reaction to the movie was definitely different than the girls. While Laurel watched it last night and tried to make a few snarky comments (teenoidism is creeping up!) and Emily watched raptly with wide eyes, what did the Squat do? He went and got his "sword" which happens to be the handle of a kids' golf club with the head knocked off. He swished it around and said, "The witch is mean...I'm going to kill her!" He put his sternest expression on and made light saber noises as he went through his moves.

I know that women can do most of the things men can do, but you can't tell me there aren't differences between boys and girls. Billy loves the adventure movies the best; the ones where the characters are active in overcoming evil, even when it isn't always certain just what evil is. He loves Star Wars, Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings (even though it freaks him out), and now the Chronicles of Narnia. When we were in the theatre watching it and he didn't have his sword, his was making moves in his seat like you see in men watching prize fights...like he wanted to jump up there, grab a sword and fight a few wolves himself.

But he's still a little boy. When the first wolf came on the screen earlier in the movie as we were watching it last night, he went in his room. Wolves are scary...he only stayed in a minute, then crept back in the hall and watched from there a few moments. Pretty soon he was back in the living room. He has a huge imagination and movies hit him harder than Emily, for instance. Laurel also has always been more easily frightened by movies...Emily seems to be much more pragmatic.

Yesterday was memorable for other reasons as well. Our tax returns landed in our checking account, allowing me to pay off the big credit card bill we had, pay the registration fee for the kids' school next year, and start planning on where the rest needs to go. Laurel is getting braces this summer, so part will go towards the deposit on those and will be refunded by the insurance, hopefully rather sooner than later. I'm hoping there will be enough left to do the kitchen floor, my bete noir. It is sheet vinyl and very worn...impossible to get it clean looking no matter what is done to it. So I'm going to make measurements and start pricing.

And I ordered my birthday present, an Epson Picture Mate. I'm hoping that being able to print my photos easily on the fly will get me to scrapbook more than I have been. I'm excited...can't wait for it to come!

And yes, I did some knitting while I was watching the movie last night. The mitered square baby blanket has a couple more squares added. Yawn! I'm really, really thinking I need to start a small project; something I can get done quickly and get the knitting juices flowing again...

Yeah, rationalizing, aren't I?