Boys Will Be Boys

I LOVE my son! Having a boy is different than having a girl in a lot of ways. Some of those ways are sweet and some of those ways are not! Degen is a wonderfully cuddly and happy boy, but he can also run an ornery streak that will wear you out for days.

I couldn't resist! After bath one evening, I put some gel in his curls and then I just kept going and gave him this baby head, faux-hawk. If I would have had a little "I Love Mom" tattoo to put on his baby bicep, I would have done it. This is my baby rebel!

T-R-O-U-B-L-E! But look at that face! Degen got ahold of some art supplies a few months ago and drew on one of the doors (it was primed, but unpainted). So, I put away all the art supplies except for the chalk. Degen would grab a piece of chalk and make his way all over the house, marking on the floors, doors, walls, furniture. I didn't really mind this because it let him be creative and was a cinch to clean, but Darren worried about the message that it was sending, so I put away the chalk. This past week, Degen brought a piece of sidewalk chalk in from outside and once again went to work decorating the house.

Degen learns a lot from his big sister, both good & bad. Sometimes they are the very best of friends and partners in crime. Other times they battle and screech. Still, Degen wants to do everything Sissy does! Here he is participating in a little less destructive play: play-doh!

I find that Degen has a more methodical way of playing than Kyrie does. Probably because Kyrie does a lot more imaginative play with dolls and dressing up. Degen wants to line all his cars up or push his trains around the floor. He wants to make things move and work.

When Kyrie plays with play-doh, she usually likes to make "cake,"which pretty much involves making a large lump of play-doh. Degen carefully pulls pieces of play-doh from the mound and puts it into the 'factory' to be pressed. He takes his play very seriously. Often during playtime, he will give a howl and then come running to find me. With a point and a fuss, he will lead me to whatever issue he is having, then smile & laugh when I open his box of trains or start a computer game for him.

Oh my goodness! Beware the room that holds a quiet child! We have a few problem areas in the house for Degen. One place is the cat food & water station. It exasperates me to no end to walk into the room and find the floor scattered with cat food and the water bowl filled to the brim with floating kitty kibble.

Another issue that has not as frequently arisen has been the dirt in the plants. It attracts the children, I know that it does. I have photos of both children with muddy smiles from digging in Darren's plants. It is not be unexpected that it will occur, but this mess that I found yesterday evening went from the bay window to halfway across the room. The boy had reached up on tiptoes to get these cups from off the shelf and then took them over to the plant and filled them with dirt. He was so proud of himself sitting in that window surrounded by dirt. That is until Momma walked in the room and expressed her strong disapproval.

It took me a good 20-30 minutes to clean up all the mess! I didn't even have to give the boy a swat because he was so saddened by the anger in my voice. That sad, sad, little face immediately soothed my anger as I went about cleaning up the mess. I love that face... I love that boy.... I even love his messes, well, maybe 'love' isn't quite the right word!