Mothers of all BOYS

There's a small group of us, the MOABs, that will get everything I have to write.

For those who have daughters gracing their lives, our stories may seem unbelievable, but when there is a bunch of brothers put together, anything can happen.

This summer I had a grand thought. I planned to take all five boys to Costco during lunch hour and hopefully with enough food samplers, I wouldn't need to feed them lunch.

After piling out of the van we headed toward the entrance. A lady walking behind me, called out to me. Thinking I dropped something or mistakenly left someone behind, I turned around.

She came running up to us and took a long look at me. "Are allll of these boys yours?!" she motioned with sweeping hand movements and eyes opened big and wide. When she determined that these were all brothers, and there were no twins in the crowd, her dramatics continued. "You are amazzzing" she beamed at me. "You are a rock star. You are so courageous. Look at these handsome boys. This is unbelievable." After I thanked her for the compliments we moved toward the store with my head ballooned up and my chin slightly elevated.

We made it through the grocery store in an okay manner. The boys had their food samples and didn't even proclaim loud enough for everyone to hear, "Don't buy these..they are gross." Or, "Buy these mom, they are on sale." Instead they whispered their comments to one another.

By this time pride had creeped into my heart. The boys were good, we were getting a lot of stares, but they handled themselves well; that is until we hit isle 13, the Baking Isle.

I was half way down the isle when I heard one boy whisper-yell to the other, "Sugar Spill!!!" 

I turned around and there they were climbing on top of the sugar stack, with their mouths wide open. One boy was licking the white sugar off of the cardboard, another had his hands scooped open with the sugar spilling through his fingers as he tried to stick both of his hands in his mouth at the same time. It was a sight to be seen. Sugar was spilling every where and the boys were lapping it up as fast as they could. One lady walked past me, laughing hysterically. "Check out those boys!"

  I was glad we gave someone a good laugh that day.

Mothers of all Boys understand the need for war, danger, energy, guns, cannons, hunting, jack knives, raccoon skin hats, and sports. We point out dead animals on the roadside. We save different looking insects for our sons to see when they come home from school. We act interested and take part in the conversations about who is playing who during hockey, soccer, and baseball seasons.

This a picture I emailed to my friends. 

Mothers of all boys understand what food means to boys. They can hurt themselves pretty badly and not shed a tear or offer a trembling lip, but if  you tell them they cannot have a snack and have to wait until the next meal, thats when they become teary eyed and only then the tears threaten to fall. MOABs need to plan after- school snacks as carefully as they plan dinner. Food, food, and more food. I know for my family the feedings will only increase. I cannot imagine!

Mothers of all boys know that hands are never clean; funny, interesting things fall out of pockets; and a very important note, never stick your nose in a underwear to see if its clean. You can only handle so many unflushed toilets and other horrible bathroom manners before you go on a complete rampage. During this rampage, before you know it potty talk comes shooting out of your mouth, but your message has been clear. Smarten up and start flushing!

Mothers of all boys know that boys aren't always keen on having their picture taken and would rather play with a blade of grass.

Being a mother of all boys is an interesting thing. The laundry piles are pretty high, you are on the constant look out for grocery specials, but most of all you try to prepare them for man hood and that can be a scary thing!

I talked to a MOABs this summer and asked her if she had any advice. Her answer -  "Good luck!"

 But, after watching her family for a few days, I saw four wonderful teenaged sons who had fun together. They enjoyed spending time together and they had great manners. She was doing something right. Watching them got me excited for the teenage years, and the way our little boys are growing, it will be here before we know it. But right now I am going enjoy these young men of mine.