Boy Noise

I am the mother of 3 sons. They are all wonderful and unique and I am quite fond of each of them. This summer I realized that my oldest son was soon going to get engaged. He hadn't said anything about marriage, I just saw the signs, I guess. As I adjusted myself to the idea that I was no longer the most important woman in his life scenes from his childhood began to play through my mind. Boys really are wonderful beings and there is always some of the little boy in every man, you just have to know what you're looking for.

I think that after 22 years of living in an all male household, I can qualify as somewhat of an expert on boys. I also have been working the last 3 years in special classrooms made up almost entirely of boys. And this year, I began the year with 2 male co-workers. I was the only female. I also have 2 brothers and always got along better with guys when I was in highschool. Less drama, I thought then. I have since learned it is just a different kind of drama.

This blog will be a way for me to share and preserve some of the finer moments(and maybe not so fine) in the lives of the boys and men I know. They are all very dear to me. Here is my introduction to the world of mothering boys:

My oldest son decided to arrive in this world in a hurry. He came 3 weeks early with no advance warnings. Just whoosh! My water broke on the elevator as I was leaving Lamaze class.
Six hours later, there he was. He was beautiful and very sleepy, although he had this strange humming noise that he made. This noise continued the next day. When I asked about it, Iwas told that it was possibly from mucus still left in him and it caused him to hum when he breathed. It was nothing to worry about. I don't think it had anything to do with mucus at all. I think it was my introduction to the world of boy noise. After we got him home, he just hummed all the time.
He seemed to like it. It was his way of not letting us forget he was there. As if we could! When the humming stopped other noises followed. After his brothers came along, our house could literally be heard a block away. It was a regular cacaphony of sound. We had crying, screamng, laughing, car noises, robot noises, monster noises, gun shot noises, singing(especially in the shower) and of course, the funniest noises of all to boys-burps, farts and anything gross sounding. Add to that pounding feet as they ran up and down stairs all day, the beating of a soccer ball on the garage door and one dear young son practicing his piano. And I can't forget the eardrum shattering noise of their music when they became teenagers. It was enough to make a mother go deaf and yet, now I miss all that noise. Two sons are out of my home and only come to home to visit. I have one left and he isn't nearly as noisy at 15 as all 3 were when they were home. I love to listen to him though, his noise is the sound of life to me. I even love hearing his feet pound up and down the stairs in the morning as he frantically gets his stuff together so he can get to the bus stop on time. But that's another post for another day...