That's My Son

Last week while leaving Charlotte, I had a while before my flight left, so I just wandered around. I found a bookstore - which is really never a good thing. I cannot enter a bookstore without buying something, and LOVE browsing books. I usually end up buying at least one book, but usually only read 80% of it. (One of my odd quirks.) I found a rack with an interesting compilation: how to be a better leader, a better friend, a better cook, etc... and then found this book:Call me strange, but books usually "speak" to me. Just a glance at the cover and a flip through the book, gives me enough confidence to buy it.

While still in the bookstore, I opened this book to the Introduction, and read this:

"You hear his little feet stomping up the wooden porch steps fast as they can go on a summer's afternoon. You yell, "Don't small the screen do--" SLAM!

"Mom! Mom!" he hollers, so out of breath he can hardly get the words out. (Why are boys so loud? you think.) You hand him a glass of water, and he attemps to drink and tell his oh-so-important story at the time.

"Mom - GULP - I - GULP - saw - GULP, PANT, PANT - the most - GULP - biggest - GULP, PANT, PANT....."

You smile at him and gently push the hair from his eyes, lovingly studying his countenance. What you see causes your heart to melt like the chocolate bar he left on your dashboard in the hot sun. His smudged face, his dirt t-shirt, and the grass-stained knees of his jeans tell you he's been on some outrageous adventure about which you can only guess. His hair is damp with sweat, and he's got that incredible boy smell about him - one part fresh-cut grass, one part odor of dog, one part unwashed hands that have been who knows where, and one part long-lost dreams from your own childhood. You gaze at him with love, wondering what he will be like as a man..."

Instantly my eyes welled up with tears. I cannot even count how many times I do this. I will find myself just staring at him as he plays, watched his eyes and trying to figure out what's going through his mind just at that time.

This book was absolutely incredible, and I ended up reading the whole thing (GASP!) within about a hour and a half. I don't think I blinked the entire time. I hung on nearly every word, and have used a lot of what the book suggested already.

The book talks about how to discipline appropriately, how to get your son to listen to you, how to play with them, how to praise them, etc. It was amazing, and especially amazing is just how well it has worked so far! To get Tyler's attention now, I whisper at him, instead of yelling. He stops in his tracks, every time!

This book actually made me feel....normal. My boys have always been so.... crazy. I've had women raise their eyebrows at me in the stores, and I've become so frustrated at times that I just sat down on the floor, and cried. Knowing that most boys are crazy, rambunctious, loud, and don't stop moving, made me feel like I hadn't done something wrong. Most important, it helped me learn how to become a better and stronger mom so my boys will grow up understand what it means to be a man, by what behaviors to encourage and which to discourage.

It was nice to know we are pretty normal, after all....

The boys, after building a "fort" in Tyler's room. In this picture, every blanket we own is behind the mattress that is yes, on its side, and they are jumping on the bed, having an absolute BLAST! (This isn't something they do to cause trouble, or make a mess, but is truly a way they develop and learn, and have fun while doing it!)