In the Tree House: Boys will be boys…

In the Tree House: Boys will be boys…

By: Samantha Stroube Daviss

Well ol’ mom is standing out in the wings once again. If you don’t already know by now, I have three boys, three male dogs, my husband…and then there is me (and the bunny rabbit too, but the jury is still out on whether it is a girl or boy…I am claiming her to be a girl).

So if you have ever had a boy, they go through the “Daddy only phase”. Our oldest son did it. Only Daddy could hold him, play with him or be with him. And now, well now, our middle son is going through this wonderful phase.

I say this all in jest, but it makes lowly old mom feel like a cooking, feeding, cleaning apparatus. When Daddy is home from work, Mommy doesn’t exist. Which when I watch them together it melts my heart, but I can’t even change his diaper, or put him down for his nap or bathe him or anything. So in my mind, I really don’t take it personally, but it kind of makes me laugh when I gave him life, I fed him, and clean him, and do his laundry, I clean up after him…and nothing.

So to all you moms out there who have ever experienced (or are experiencing) this…”This too shall pass”, I promise; I’ve been through it once. And as much as it kills you, or your little green envy monster starts to surface, just remember…they are and will forever be your baby boy. And remember, when you first gave them life, you were the only one they wanted to be held by, fed by, and loved by. So I guess you could say turnabout is fair play.

Therefore, with this new realization in our household, I sat with my 13 month old the other day and we had a really long talk together. Since he is the baby and our last, he and I decisively (unbeknownst to him really) came to the conclusion that he isn’t going to grow any more, learn to talk, or go to college either. He will be my little baby forever.

And the other phase our middle one has entered is a wee bit of separation anxiety. And by a “wee bit”, I mean standing out in the front yard with our sitter, while I head out to work, and chasing my car three yards away in his little PJs. Now tell me that doesn’t make you feel like the worst mother?

Or my favorite is when he sees me straightening or curling my hair in the morning, he says “I go too momma, I go to work too.” And he runs to his closet to get his little shoes on. But the worst is, once you maneuver your way out of the house, with the distraction of sending him to the backyard to play, or saying you’re taking the trash out; and then he realizes you’re gone and you can hear his blood-curdling scream from three blocks away.

But then, when grandma comes to take him to go swimming or to see a choo choo (a train), and then he is just fine being apart from Mommy and Daddy.

Little minds absolutely fascinate me. When people have said in the past that at this stage of their lives the world revolves around them, they weren’t kidding. All the stories, anecdotes, giggles, and smiles, are what make all the sleepless nights, broken lamps, and scratched walls ludicrous points.

So as a mom, I have so many funny stories of survival (for myself) to tell, but to me, my life is just one big happy ending. And I am grateful everyday that I have these little people in my life to spice it up just a little bit every single day.