What are little boys made of?

"Snips and snails, and puppy-dogs' tails

That's what little boys are made of!"

Mother Goose Rhymes

Little boys are odd creatures. They are at their happiest when covered in soot, from head to toe, with grime collecting under their nails, snotty noses, easily wiped on their forearms, and personalised finger-printed t-shirts. Being the mom of a (nearly) seven-year old has certainly been quite a learning experience.

Now I understand where that old saying comes from: "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach". Part of the growing-up process involves the development of their olfactory senses (at a very early stage). Yesterday we decided to try out our new fancy-schmancy gas barbeque. I had some spare ribs and chicken on the grill & last minute decided to throw in some sausages (the little guy's favourite). Meanwhile, my son was leaning over on the fence, chatting away to his 2 pals from across the street.

One of the boys called out "What's that smell?".

My son answered "Oh it's just my mom testing out her new barbeque".

"What's she cooking? Smells good."

He came running over to check & went back to fill him in on his findings.

To which the little boy replied sadly, "Gosh, you're lucky. We're going to have fish."

I was listening in to the conversation and, at this point, decided to step in and told my son to invite his little friends over. In the meantime, I decided to throw in some fries as I'm quite familiar with the size of little boy's tummies. I gave them a plate of sausages and, had just turned my back for a second, when I noticed that they had gobbled them all down. Wow! Hummm! Would there be enough food at this pace? Luckily, I remembered I still had some brownies in the fridge, which would do just fine for dessert. Don't even ask me what those three little boys looked like after getting their hands on some barbequed meat. FILTHY!

Today I took my son to school with me. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to take him to work with me thoughout July. It's nice to have him around, but so difficult to keep him entertained while I'm working. Also, it's hard making him aware that his behaviour has to be different in my work space. It's not like being at home. So, I tell him that he just has to regard me as a teacher when he's at school with me. Well, I was in the middle of a class today and had left him in the computer room playing some games. All of sudden he came storming into my classroom and shouted "Sorry, teacher mom! I can't hold it any longer... can I go pee?" The class just burst out laughing, but I was all flustered as I ushered him out the door, reminding him that he doesn't have to ask permission to perform his basic bodily functions. JUST GO!

Boys will be boys, they say! And I do so love my little boy!