I was the oldest of three girls growing up. My first child was a girl and for some reason assumed that my second child would be a girl as well. I was shocked when the ultrasound technician announced that were having a boy at 17 weeks. I knew there was a chance, but a boy was foreign to me. What was I going to do with a boy?
I had already experienced worry that I would not be able to love another child. At the time, I did not realize those feelings were a common worry for many moms prior to second child’s birth. When I found out he was a boy I faced more worries. We did not have boy clothes, boy toys or knowledge of boy things.
It did not take me very long to accept that he was a boy or realize that I would very much love everything about having a boy following his birth. Along with all the good parts about having a boy, some parts are super stinky and gross at times.
We recently made a last minute trip to the beach and our arrival our first night was very late. As I was trying to help my exhausted kids get ready for bed I kept smelling foul wet dog smell. I verbalized the smell, and my son announced “I might have forgotten to change my socks for two days mom.” With the stink, I am not sure that it was just two days. Of course, instructions were made to try to remember to please change all clothes daily to spare our noses.
While we were on the beach the next day, I was cleaning up beach toys when I looked up to find my son with his swimsuit down. He was peeing in the sand. I rushed to him and yelled instructions to pull up his pants and go into the water. He stepped about a foot forward and kept peeing. The water where he stood was only about an inch deep. In a panic, I rushed him out into the deeper water for him to only to tell me he did not have to pee anymore.
Despite persistent correction, he continues to pick his nose. Telling him it is gross, is not a help. For some reason, he thinks chewing his fingernails and toenails is a normal acceptable behavior. Yuck and yuck. Not only does he believe that several gross behaviors are normal, he apparently likes to talk about them. Another boy his age told his mom that he likes sitting with my because of the potty talk.
Although it may stink some for the next 13 years in our house, we are enjoying each and every day with our little boy.
Writer Bio: Summer Bolte
I spend most of my time and days with my three kids, husband and dog. My kids frequently play near me as I garden, cook, DIY and volunteer. My most unusual paying job has to be feeding fruit flies in a research lab, and my most fulfilling job was being an oncology nurse for seven years.
