Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

I love little boys. 

I have three of them, and I have cherished every minute of being a mom to them.  I loved the years when my Jacob was obsessed with construction equipment, and knew the names of every machine by the time he was two.  I loved how he called the cement mixer a "mixger" and a bulldozer something like "bu-dizzer."  I love it how Josh's favorite things have always been tools and "man" things like brief cases and clipboards.  One  year his very favorite Christmas gift was a box of wood, some grown up tools, and some how-to-build-things books.  I loved Ben's toddler obsession with balls--any kind of ball--and his love of "having adventures."  I loved the superhero years, tying blankets around little necks and watching them zoom around the house.  I love our home full of ruckus and silliness and daring feats of all kinds.  I love the toy cars and trains and transformers and legos-- everywhere.  I love it that all kinds of sound effects can be heard coming from little boy lips at all hours of the day....  shooting sounds, vehicle sounds, crashing sounds, and space ship sounds.   

I just love being a mom to little boys! (and girls...but that's a different post.)

And now I find myself cherishing these days of having three "little" boys more than ever.  Because my Jacob is twelve years old.... and I know what will be coming soon.  Jacob has some childhood friends who recently became about a foot taller than him.  Some of their voices are changing.  I recently ran into an old friend of mine I hadn't seen in a long time, and I barely recognized her 13 year old son.  He practically looked like a MAN!  It cannot be avoided that in a relatively short time, the sands of time will be marching through our  home and taking my little boy with them, leaving a teenager in his place.  A teenager who will be taller than me, and who will look different and sound different, and eventually will not be interested in the same things anymore that he always has been.  And I know it will be fine, and I will love him just as much, and I believe I will cherish those years the same as I have the little boy stage of his life.    But it will be different.  

Today the boys played "Survival" most of the day.  They put up a small tent in the backyard, took backpacks out there full of necessary supplies, wrote about their adventures about meeting wild animals and an Indian girl (Sarah) in a journal, and enjoyed the day, wishing they could sleep out there tonight.  This evening we went to the park, and the boys played a game about Ninja warrior training, scaling the monkey bars and bounding up the slides. 

And I listened and watched and did school in the tent with them, soaking in every minute I possibly can of these loud, happy, and crazy days with my three "little" boys.