Weapons

If you are the proud parent of boys, it comes as no surprise to you that these cute creatures made of frogs and snails and puppy dog tails are also made of swords and guns and knife wielding fun.

So this blog is part vent and part to help my friends with girls to understand: with boys – it is absolute truth – that EVERYTHING can be a weapon.

Obviously, my boys love to engage in pirate play with their "soft" swords, and they love to karate chop each other with sticks. This doesn't surprise me; it does not take only a boy mind to use sticks and bats and other sword-shaped toys as, well, swords.

What never ceases to amaze me are the everyday household items that get repurposed as weapons. Popsicle sticks, crafty pipe cleaners, bubble-making wands – you name it.

Just a few days ago I watched as the boys whipped the flexible straws out of their chocolate soy milk and brandished them at each other with hearty "aaarrrrrrgh"s. Then Tadpole, very seriously and with significant big-brotherly concern in his voice, said "Mommy, Quatro doesn't have a sword [because, of course, my four week old is not yet drinking his beverages with a flexi straw]... we need to get him his own sword!" Sad. It starts sooo early.

And today, while eating a lunch creatively presented by Nana, the boys removed their ruffle-topped cocktail toothpicks out of hot dog chunks, only to start poking each other with them while .

Where, oh where, do they GET these ideas and tendency toward play fighting? They watch only carefully selected, non-combative TV programs and have spent very little time front of movies. Could all of this really stem from a half dozen viewings of the childhood favorite, Peter Pan?

The only explanation is that loud “weapon” play must truly be part of the genetic make-up of boys. And even though I grew up with a brother, I am not used to this kind of play. Oh, what fun I have in store for me.

dB

Decibel (dB): a unit used to express the intensity of a sound wave

Typical average decibel levels of some common sounds (courtesy of www.sfu.ca and -er- my own personal home decibel measurement kit):

Threshold of hearing: 0 dB
Rustling leaves: 20 dB
Quiet home: 40 dB
Normal conversation: 60 dB
One Rudlet home/awake: 70 dB
Loud singing: 75 dB
Motorcycle: 88 dB
Food blender: 90 dB
Two Rudlets home/awake: 92 dB
Inside a subway: 94 dB
Power mower: 107 dB
Three Rudlets home/awake: 115 dB
Chainsaw: 117 dB
Amplified rock and roll: 120 dB
All four Rudlets home/awake: 125 dB
Jet plane: 130 dB

The Last Firsts

Ah the joys of a newborn! I love those precious firsts – first time in his car seat, first neighborhood visitors, first time he shoots poo across the room while changing him in the middle of the night… precious they are, even though some (first time he leaves you with one cumulative hour of sleep the whole night!) may not seem so precious at the time.

In the whirlwind blur that is my mommy life, every day for the last four years has been full of firsts, and it is easy to forget them. I try to make notes in the journal that sits on my bedside table. As time goes on, finding those few moments to write becomes more challenging, the journal collects dust easier, and I as I drift off to sleep and realize I did not write today’s sweet firsts, I say a pleading, groggy prayer that I just “remember.”

This go ‘round is different, though: the last baby – the last firsts. I am trying to celebrate them and treasure them even more.

Because time is fleeting, my kids are growing quickly, and as a close friend of mine always reminds me, “this is the littlest your family will ever be.”

And THAT is precious.

Welcome Baby Quatro!

Baby Quatro, day 4


Meeting his big brothers for the first time!