Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Sunday, April 29, 2012

Boys


And they look so innocent . . .
It had been a tough day.
And we had three boys.
Those are my excuses . . .
The day had started out slowly.
Mark had sleep-walked and nearly mistook the closet for the bathroom.
Caught just in time.
Because I am superwoman.
Shortly thereafter (oooh, good word), Mark and Erik had staged an argument/battle over the TV remote.
I should explain, here, that the word 'remote' was largely optimistic at this point.
There was a device.
Attached to our VCR by a long cord.
Thus, 'remote'.
Moving on . . .
Our two oldest boys were fighting over it.
Mom won.
By banishing them to opposite sides of the family room.
Neither of which was close enough to the TV to allow access to said remote.
They were watching 'Black Hole'.
Again.
It was the only approximately 'family' movie that our newly fledged VCR rental outlet had.
Both of them could quote it by this time.
They began to discuss whether they should do what Mark wanted - watch it again - or flip to the TV for the daily episode of Sesame Street. Erik's idea.
More arguing.
Won by Mom again, when she suggested, rather forcefully that the time had come for them to go outside and bother their father.
Whereupon (another good word) they found themselves in the great outdoors.
With their little brother.
For a while, they sat and pouted.
Then Duffy discovered the mud puddle.
A short time later, there was a timid tap at the front door.
I opened it.
There was a figure standing there.
Vaguely human in shape.
Roughly the size of my third son.
Several scrubbings later, I realized that it was, indeed, Duffy.
Whose brothers had doused him, quite literally, in his own discovery.
The culprits were discovered, some time later, hiding in the basement of the house their dad was building.
Still giggling.
I dragged them into the house.
To apologize.
And to eat lunch.
Was it really only noon?
They immediately began to argue over who got the yellow cup.
And where each of them would sit.
I settled it again.
No one got the yellow cup and neither of them got to sit remotely close to where they wanted. In fact, they were lucky to be sitting at all!
As they finally bowed their heads and started scooping up Mac and Cheese, I told them, “I think I'm going to take the three of you in to the 'used kids' store and trade you in on girls!”
My second son looked at me, round-eyed. “Can you do that?”
I laughed. “No,” I reassured him.
“Oh.” He went back to scooping.
But sometimes, I wish . . .

17 comments:

  1. You had him there..just for a second..right where you wanted him.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Too funny, girls really are not easier, just different. LOL.... I have two children, both girls. My oldest is an amazing girl but she could have tried the patience of a saint (I'm not a saint), it took me 22 years to have another child, another girl... she is sweet an kind... I am hoping she is easier when she becomes a teenager but I am not holding out hope, even though I am a happy positive person, lol.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, my, Launna, 22 years! At least you have your notes from the first time around! Good luck! :)

      Delete
    2. Thanks Diane and can you believe I actually planned the second girl :) I know people think I am silly but she is sweet and she keeps me young:)

      Delete
    3. I definitely can believe it, Launna! And you're absolutely right - kids keep you young!

      Delete
  3. What a fun day. I love it when kids fight hahahahaha
    I also wish for girls but I hear they are worse than boys lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When they are small, the fights are actually quite humorous. When they're older? Not so much! :)

      Delete
  4. Oh, that was so good Diane. :-)

    Made me remember that I opened the door to my own son once, covered with white paint, the whites of his eyes bloodshot and frightened... The neighbor kids had a can of spray paint and had decided that setting it on the ground and hitting it with a hammer was a really good idea...

    Pearl

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh. My. Goodness.
      Neighbours. What would the world be like without 'em?!
      Dad always says that one kid's a whole kid. Two kids are half a kid. And it goes down from there. He's right.

      Delete
  5. Diane,
    Did I already tell you I love your stories? I can so relate to this Solomon-like decision making process: "If you can't work it out nicely, no one gets to use it/play with it/watch it/ do the thing you want to do first."
    Of course, we'd never trade them in!
    At least, not for too long!
    Blessings,
    Ann

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Dr. Ann! I'm sure you've had those days when you think you should be wearing a striped shirt and carrying a whistle. Because you feel just like a referee! You're right. We'd never trade them for long . . .

      Delete
  6. Oh, the trials and tribulations and excitement of raising boys! I do believe it is a very different experience than raising girls.

    Your images made me laugh. Thanks so much!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Kim! I found my girls fought even more than the boys did. Sigh.

      Delete
  7. Oh boys. But since I only have two and one girl I'm not really as much of an expert on boys as you are! :) But I can tell you this much - I was most definitely meant to be a mother of boys. I think girls are harder!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. |i definitely like what I hear about your boys! And your girl! I'll tell you one thing - both of them can get into pretty tall arguments!!! :)

      Delete

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