Raising boys

This post is random, but I'm one of those people that takes out her phone to snap a picture every half second, ends up with billions of random pictures on her phone, and can't resort to throwing away a single one of them... I guess I'm a picture hoarder... maybe I should start a reality TV show.

First is a picture of the boys at the library a couple of months ago (I don't remember when exactly). The library was planning some renovation and wanted the opinion of parents and children. So they had a special story time combined with a brainstorming meeting. They asked the kids what changes they'd like to see at the library. Josh said he'd like to be able to buy toys there! I think he specifically mentioned guns... Here he is, proudly coming back to me after going up to the stage to share his idea, and tag-along-Willy looking just as proud and obviously sharing the fantasy. Oh the paradoxical feelings motherhood brings, the combined sense of pride, endearment and shame all at once. 

 This one is a second attempt at making slime with a different recipe. It yielded a different, stiffer slime, that wasn't quite as fun in my opinion, but apparently was the perfect consistency for a headband?

Then there was the fun run at Josh's school, sometime in March. It was scheduled at 1pm but Josh's preschool class is over at 11am so I thought we were supposed to come back if we wanted to participate. So we did, only to realize he had already run a "pretend" race in the morning with his class. But since we were there, they let him run again with the afternoon class (and William too) and with all the other classes cheering (up to 5th grade) and he had a ton of fun!

it rained a little bit before the race

I don't know why William was holding his hands in his back like this but it was super cute!

Don't ask me why they put their bibs on their back

Chasing the 2 bunnies (older kids who were showing them the way) - Josh is the 2nd kid behind the bunnies

William crossing the finish line

 Josh did really well, I think he arrived 3rd of 4th, but he was very disappointed he couldn't catch the bunnies and a little girl he didn't know passed him.... Haha! A little bit of manly pride. He got over it quickly. William did really well too and arrived only a few seconds after Josh (the power of competition!)


I started a chore chart for Joshua in April. I'd been thinking about it for a while, I thought he was ready for a little more responsibilities and it would be a good way to keep track of what day it was, help him gain a little more control over his life. So I drew out a 4 week calendar and decorated it with stickers to help him remember what day it was. I put it on the fridge and he moved a magnet to the right day every morning.

The chores were: making his bed in the morning, putting his dishes in the sink after eating, and cleaning up his toys before bed time. When he did it, he got a smiley sticker, and the goal was not to miss more than 2 days in a week.

We decided on the reward ahead of time. He'd seen a toy-riffle at the store and wanted me to buy it for his birthday. Well his birthday is in December so instead I told him he could have it as a reward for doing his chores. He was completely ecstatic! It was the best motivator, he carried a picture of the riffle in his pocket for weeks. (What's up with boys and weapons?)

After he earned his riffle... best day of his life!

sharing with William and playing cowboys or policeman

I am really proud of this big boy. He has such a grateful heart. He bounced on the walls, hugged me, thanked me, called me the best Mom ever. What a sweet heart. The sweetest thing is he'd picked this toy because there was also a smaller gun he could share with William. They played cow-boys for a really long time. This toy is still one of their favorites, even one or two months after having it. Oh, and I'm sorry if this makes you nervous... for some reason it doesn't make me nervous, and I know if he didn't have this toy, he'd still be doing the same thing with a stick, a piece of bread cut up like a gun, a knitting needle, legos, magnets, an empty roll of paper towel, or any kind of rod shaped instrument, believe me...

Oh and if anyone's wondering how the stroller is holding up, I'm happy to report it's as good as new. I replaced the tires a few days after changing the ball bearing (yes that's how bad the tire was worn) and I've resumed abusing it daily.