boys are foreign.

Maybe it's just me, but I kind of think little boys are foreign. I love my two fellas so much & enjoy their energy & thrill for life that they have.  But, at times I find them so out of this world puzzling to me.  They love to play army men.  The literally crawl around the back yard on their tummies wearing their bike helmets & use random objects like plastic golf clubs & driftwood as their guns as they "shoot" at who knows what.  They have never seen any sort of shoot them up movie or video game.  My son gets scared at at anything other than Veggietales & Bob the Builder so it bewilders me how they just know to do this.  This boy thing.

They also LOVE to wrestle.  They must do it at all times & typically with out wearing shirts.  Sometimes my older son has to be in just his underwear since according to him really good wrestlers don't wear shirts or pants.  What?!  

Racing is a must.  Indoors.  Outdoors. It doesn't matter what or where the finish line is they just need me to watch how fast they can go.

One of my boys is constantly asking me about ninjas.  Can people grow up to be ninjas?  What do ninjas wear?  Do they have super powers?  What kind of school do you think ninjas go to?  This happens on a continuous loop as he follows me around as I vacuum or do the dishes or some other mundane task.  So, although I don't know much anything about ninjas our conversations do help the vacuuming and what not go by a little quicker.  

But, should I try to bring up anything remotely girl like they turn on me quickly and we are no longer a united team.  I didn't have any idea any of this would happen so quickly.  A mom mentions getting her toes painted & the 2 year old starts saying how weird that it is & then it is evident.  We are different them & I.  I am solo here.  No hello kitty or barbies up in this place.  It is straight up cars, legos, super hero's & dirt. And rocks.  And sticks. And leaves.  So many collections of so many things.  Each stick must be picked up & inspected at once to see how it would operate as a sword or perhaps some sort of digging utensil.  It is either thrown down in disgust for it's apparent lack of use or it is heralded as the.best.stick.ever.  At least until we come across the next stick.

Even though my boys boggle my brain & most of what we play is not of interest to me...I can only build so many flying cars out of legos before my brain goes to mush I try to say more yes's than no's to them.  I want them to continue to seek me out.  To enjoy playing besides me.  To remember that their mommy played with them.  I want to make them & their interests a priority in my day even though I would rather be watching Parenthood on hulu or reading or mowing the lawn. You get my drift.  It is a little bit of dying to self each time I lower myself to their hardwood bedroom floor to get our legos on, but hopefully this way they will remember I care when the bigger things come along.  The hurt feelings at school, the girls, the all around awkwardness they are sure to encounter.  No, I don't say yes every time.  I do have to make sure they are fed & watered too & sometimes I need some space or they need some space, but I am trying to be present & be in the moment with them even when I have no idea how to really describe what a storm trooper does.