Boys Will Be Boys .. ??

One of the things as parents that we decided very early on, was that we weren't going to limit our children based on their gender. This turned out to be a good thing, especially since Shannon is more commonly known as a girl's name around here. I've had people correct me when I talked about my son saying "you mean daughter" .. no, I mean son, I do believe I know which one I gave birth to. For his first birthday we had gotten a gift certificate from a local company that would provide everything: cake, streamers, gift bags, balloons, etc. We met with her, she met Shannon, the invitation (an underwater theme) was in blue, we made it clear Shannon was a boy. Day of the party comes and we get pink & purple decorations, and a 1st Birthday balloon that has a little girl on it. Oh well, we put them up, laughed about it, and announced that there was nothing wrong with a boy in pink. Fast forward to when we had Tristan ~ I'm still in the hospital and we've joked that, at least this time, people ought to assume we had a boy. Tristan in the hospital sported tie-dyed newborn clothing and a mohawk (no joke). He was STILL called a girl because of his name. Oh well.

This past Monday, as we were running errands in the rain, Tristan started announcing that he didn't want to get his dress wet. At first I didn't pay much attention to this, after all I was trying to get from car to building & back again with two kids .. in the rain. But he kept repeating it. Finally I paid some attention and realized what he was talking about. He had taken to calling the pants he was wearing his "dress." I laughed about it and we giggled about him getting his dress wet. As he splashed in puddles I, laughingly, hollered "Get over here mister, you're getting your dress all wet!!" The three of us got a good laugh out of this. The lady who happened to be crossing the parking lot turned her head towards us, rather quizzically, several times.

Today Shannon asked if he could play dress up. I wasn't so surprised by what he was wearing: an old pair of my mother's high heels. They had been among the things left here when she moved and the boys have used them for dress up (they have other stuff too) since then. What happened next made me laugh though.

~Shannon playing dress-up. I've read lately that nothing is more stylish than a dark top paired with long dark jeans and a pair of heels. Doesn't it say something when my 6 year old son is more stylishly hip than me?~

Shannon hollered for me. There was a spider cricket. Eww. This is the one insect that gets us all going "ew" over. These little bastards jump AT you. Ew.

Shannon: MOMMY, there's a spider cricket!!
Me: So squish it!
Shannon: What?? You mean with my good dress-up shoes?!?!?!

I am now rolling in laughter realizing that my son just squealed and didn't want to squish a bug because he is wearing heels. His good ones too apparently.
I go out to get it myself, since I am sporting only Birks, not heels. The bastard bug has gone under the wardrobe. I am not going under there after it. I inform Shannon I'll get it if it comes back out. Apparently I needn't bother.
A minute or two later I hear a 'whack' and Shannon announcing that he killed the spider cricket.

Me: Good! What shoe did you use?
Shannon: Oh, I used the flathead screw on my shoe.

---- ummm, excuse me???

~Shannon showing off the flathead screws on the bottoms of his dress-up shoes~

I've known gals to use the heel of their heels as hammers when need be. But leave it to a 6 year old boy to determine that the pointy heel of a high heel is REALLY a "flathead screw." Good for killing spider crickets.

Ya learn something new everyday.