About a Boy | slackermama . com

Or… Boys as the case may be

A friend of mine recently posted on her blog about all her children. What they’re interested in, what their personalities are like and about who they are as growing people. And I thought that was a great idea. Most of the time I post what I’m doing, what I’m thinking and about my children as it relates to me. But I don’t often post about the boys as individuals, about who they are underneath it all. And I should, if for no other reason than preserving this moment in time for posterity.

Harry
I often can’t believe I have a seven year old. Not just that, but such a tender-hearted seven year old. Harry continually amazes me with the depths of his sensitivity. He cares about many things very much. He loves animals especially cats. We gave up our cats last summer and he still cries about it from time to time. He says he misses Tiger’s pink nose and Cinder’s long, long, soft black fur. He’s so sweet with his little brother too. I would have expected some jealousy or negative behavior after Liam was born but not one bit. I can gush over Liam and exclaim about how cute he is and Harry will chime in just as enthusiastically, “He’s so cute, I just want to eat him.” While he doesn’t chores such as feeding, if I ask him to sit with Liam or entertain him for a minute while I get something done, he’ll happily do so. He loves to see his little brother smile and laugh at his antics.

Harry loves introverted activities. If I were to let him, I think he’d play with the Xbox or his Gameboy all day long. He also deeply enjoys Lego sets. Whenever he gets a new one, he’ll open up the box, get all the pieces out on the floor and go through the instructions, step by step. He puts entire sets together all by himself. He’s remarkably patient with it, seeing as how he’s so impatient when it comes to the video games. He’s had his Xbox and Gameboy taken away several times for emotional outbursts while he plays. He’s got a wild temper, a trait which I fear comes from my side of the family. In true Scorpio fashion, he runs hot and hotter. When he feels emotions, he feels them 110%.

He’s both extremely intelligent and blessedly innocent. He reads at a fourth grade level (FOURTH grade!) and writes in a little notebook at night (you should see his movie ideas. He’s got some great ideas for future Spider-man and Superman movies). He’s got a great sense of humor and loves Jim Carrey movies. America’s Funniest Home Videos is his favorite television show, aside from The Simpsons. He’s painfully easy to tease. He’s very earnest and tends to take everything at face value which makes teasing him so easy. I should lay off, but its very fun. I do worry about the other kids at school. I can see them already taking advantage of his trusting nature, fondness for being silly and innocence. The other day I was picking him up and a girl in his class watched as he got in the van. She said, “You still use a carseat??” (it’s a booster seat, but I guess it’s the same difference… we’re having him sit in it until he’s 8 years old and 80 pounds, as recommended). Harry didn’t even notice the snottiness in her tone and chuckled saying, “Yeah” as if saying of course he did, why wouldn’t he? Aren’t you silly for asking? I can see where he can be a prime target for bullying and that makes my heart hurt. He’s such a caring, sweet and sensitive boy and I hate to see these school years suck that out of him.

Liam
I can’t believe he’s six months old already. Where does the time go? It’s been sucked into a whirlwind vacuum of bottles, pumps, tiny socks, dirty diapers and shrieking laughter. I can’t think of a better vacuum to get sucked into though, can you? He’s probably quadrupled in size since the day he was born. I was folding up some of his newborn clothes the other day and came across a couple of his preemie outfits. One in particular looked so darned small, I had a hard time believing that Liam (or any baby, for that matter) could ever fit in it. But the proof is in the picture. The one on the left there is one of the tiniest preemie outfits we have. Unbelievable.

He’s much, much bigger than that now! In fact, he’s outgrowing his infant carseat at an alarming pace. When I took him to the doctor a couple weeks ago and he was diagnosed with RSV, he weighed 19 pounds. NINETEEN. He wasn’t even five pounds when he was born. That just boggles my mind.

He swam in his carseat. Literally. Those days are gone. He’s also not so much a newborn mush anymore, as much as I enjoyed that stage. I think I must be one of the only people alive who really loved the newborn stage. I loved the helplessness and the cuddling I could get in. Liam still loves to cuddle, but he’s developing his personality more and more every day. He’ll cuddle when he’s tired or cold or hungry (but not fanatically hungry because then he’s just SO EXCITED to be eating that his arms literally cartwheel). One of his favorite cuddling times is at night when Kile lays him down in our bed upstairs. Now I tend to feed him and lay him down and leave the room. Ten minutes max. But Kile will actually get in bed with him, cuddle him into the crook of his arm and stay there until Liam is asleep. And Liam LOVES it. It’s not the same when I do it. I imagine because I still smell so much like milk. But papa provides some serious cuddling.

That aside, Liam loves to play. The new exersaucer that my parents got him for Christmas is pretty high on his list. He loves to chew on the toy attachments and spin the rattle, bang on the flipbook and ooh at the mirror. Oh, and he loves to bounce. He’ll often get to bouncing in it so hard, he starts laughing his fool head off. Liam is on the GO. He’s not crawling yet, but I have a feeling it’s only a matter of time. And then woe will be ours because there will be no stopping him then. He’s deeply curious and wants to investigate everything he comes across. He’s a lot more extroverted than Harry, or even I, ever was.

He has this need to be around people, to be where the action is, and participating in the action. Even if it’s just as an observer. He wants to sit up with us at dinner, so we had to get him a highchair. He’ll sit in there quite happily for the entire duration of dinner, chewing on a toy and just watching us interact as a family while we eat. But he does love attention and will let you know if he thinks he’s not getting enough. Plus, he’s a SMILER. He loves to smile and he’ll smile at anyone who smiles at him. Even when he was at his sickest a couple weeks ago, he was still grinning from ear to ear. He’s pretty mild so far, doesn’t throw many fits or even cry that much as long as his needs are being tended to. He’s often just content to be along for the ride.