Lots of Energy

Do you remember some of you papers you wrote in college? Can you believe you wrote and believed some of the crap that you turned in? Sorry for the use of the word crap. I tried to come up with something a little better but my other choices were worse. Anyway, when I studied abroad, I wrote some papers about the development of gender. I really believed that it was environment or nurture that shaped a child's development and character. I never expected biology or nature to have so much to do with it. I would raise my children a certain way and that would be it. I knew it all. I was a career woman and I studied "Women's Studies." I am not sure I ever expected to have kids. I knew that I would never stay home with them. Never.

So here I am at home and my boys really make me earn my keep. They are all boy. They are constantly moving and chasing each other. They wrestle and come up with super hero scenarios. They love to tease each other and everything is a contest. Up and down the stairs. Fighting, yelling, running, chasing and teasing. That's all they do.

We had my beautiful niece's baptism on Sunday. At the luncheon afterwards, the boys (all of the boys not just mine) are running laps and laps around the house. One of my nieces was hanging with the boys and trying to keep up. The other girl, sitting in the corner with some tiny people and a house. Playing quietly.

We visited some friends for the weekend a few months ago. The kids created a small obstacle course and were jumping into piles of pillows to entertain themselves. All in all, they were good. They hardly argued or fought. I was telling her how happy and relieved I was that my boys were good during the visit. She looked at me a little funny and said "Whoa. That was good? I thought they had a lot of 'energy'." That is a nice way to say "wild." She has two little girls and when they get yelled out, I am always wondering what they were doing wrong. They seem like angels to me.

Everyone keeps telling me that this will all pay off when they are teenagers. I will not have teenage girls and hopefully none of the drama. I told a new mom I know to just keep repeating to yourself "This is just a phase. It will pass." I need to really believe it myself. Everyone also says that I will miss this time when they are older. I hear you. But, man. I could take a few days of a little less energy.

Don't let the tuxedos or smiles fool you. They have lots and lots of "energy."