What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails
And puppy-dogs’ tails
That’s what little boys are made of
What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice
And everything nice
That’s what little girls are made of.
I am not really sure the truth of this nursery rhyme or if its author actually had little girls or boys. Here is my experience with both 🙂
I grew up in a household of girls. We had all girl cousins until I was around 12. Then we had 3 boy cousins all in a row but I did not live close to them until I was around 16. But even then I wasn’t around long enough to really get to know them. So I never had much close experience with boys. I had all nieces on my side of the family until I married Adam and those nephews lived far away. I had the first boy on my side of immediate family.
He was definitely different from the girls I grew up with. He was a little red head with a fiery personality to boot. The day he was born he was eating but apparently not getting enough so he pulled away from my breast hollered at me and then latch back on. He has been stating his business ever since. Boys are different. He was at a friends house when he was around one year old, with her little daughter who was the same age. The little girl (R) had a baby. She would hold the baby, rock the baby and gently lay it down on the floor. When W got a hold of it he took the doll threw it on the floor and body slammed it.
When I had my second boy He was a lot more rambunctious. He got into everything. When he was two his brother spray painted him and the tree and the wagon black. Very early on he began learning how to unscrew everything. One day I caught him trying to unscrew the screen door from the door jam. He will often be found with dirt or grease all over him. W on the other hand is neater when he plays and doesn’t like to be dirty. If there is a puddle D walks right through it and W walks around it. On most days you will find at least one wrestling match going on between at least two of the boys.
C is my sweet, very sensitive boy, but he is a brute. If he runs into you he will knock the wind out of you. We call him hulk and also Hoss because he is so big. He is almost 5 and over 50 lbs. He loves animals and when our cat had kittens he named them all. He checks those kittens everyday. His brothers often make him cry because he is so very sensitive. His love language is physical touch but his favorite form is wrestling. He loves bugs, cats, dogs, horses, pretty much any animal. When his sister stepped on an ant he cried.
When we found out we were having a girl my sister sent us one of her daughters doll houses. This was before J was born. One day I found the boys playing army man in it. They had set the barbie dream house up as an army barracks hiding men behind the walls and furniture. I thought just you wait until you little sister is around to tell you whats what about that. She definitely does tell them whats what.Â
Three years ago we had our darling little girl. I had visions dancing through my head of this sweet little cuddly child that would be a breath of fresh air after my rambunctious boys. I thought it would be much easier raising her after the boys because “girls are easy” or so I was told. While her favorite color is pink and she loves dresses, there is nothing dainty to her. She can wrestle with the rest of them and tries to take down one her brothers on a daily basis. Whoever said girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice didn’t have a little girl like J. While she is a little honey, she throws more fits in public than any of my boys. If she doesn’t get what she wants she screams a high pitch blood cuddling scream like nothing I have ever heard before. I never even knew there was a pitch that high. She can be talking in a cute little voice one minute and the next pinching your nose off because you want her to eat her food. I would say she’s made up of spice and sas everything rash. (I know it doesn’t rhyme)
I think it comes down to the fact that we have little sinners and each child is very different. While most boys could be found climbing trees playing with bugs or rolling in mud and most girls playing with dolls or running through flowers twirling in her dress There are exceptions to this.
I was graced with no “Easy” children. I believe God gave me these kids to help mold me into what I need to be. Man is it hard to be humble and patient each day. I also know that these little ones don’t stay little very long and I have learned and continue to learn to enjoy each day. So when we are at the home improvement store and they are driving the car cart around the sidewalk while waiting for A like its a race car, I just smile and laugh. We don’t always have all the time we want with each of them so lets make the time we do have great.
Signing off from one woman to another.
Jenny Ren