Grappling with a “mommyblogger” dilemma

**updated!!


There is a story about one of my kids that I want to write down because it was really sweet.  But, I’m afraid that down the road it’ll make him mad at me.

You know, he does get mad at me all. the. time. anyhow; I’ll just put it under the jump.

Lex decided to run for student council again this year.  He’s run twice, and won a slot once.  Today was the day he had to give his speech, which he wrote with his dad and practiced quite a few times last night.  He asked me to wake him up extra early, so I did.  He sat right up in his bed, saying, "Shower!!  Gotta take a shower!!"

I reminded him that he’d taken one before bed last night, but he wanted another anyway.  I told him just to run through his hair with a wet comb, which he did.  Then, I heard him singing to himself in the bathroom, and the door was open a crack so I peeked in on him. 

Then, my heart melted into a little puddle.

He had the pretend shaving kit that Santa brought him a few years back, and he was shaving and singing to himself.  I stepped in to tell him that I was really proud of him and that I loved him.  He put the toy razor away and I told him that he still had soap on his face.  He grinned at me and got a towel and wiped it off.  Then he got out the lotion aftershave and put that on his face. 

"I’m all ready for breakfast now, Mom," he said.

It’s so sweet, when kids are not little but not grown and you get to see them with one foot in each world. 

I picked him up today after school and I could tell by how he was walking that he’d lost.  He was doubly insulted because he lost to a girl

I was tempted to tell him to get used to it, but instead I just gave him a hug and told him I’d cook him a big supper tonight.  That made him smile. 

** update!

And then, today while driving in the van (Lex was up front next to me), Lex says, "Did you know puberty starts at age 11?"

"Well," I said, "It’s a little different for everyone, but that sounds about right."

"Aaaaack!  Puberty is after me HELLLLLLP!!"

"Yeah," I said, "your voice will get deeper, you’ll get hair under your armpits," (he was making grossed out faces) "you can wear deodorant. . . "

"And, I’ll get hair you know where," he said. 

"Yes.  You will, everyone does."

"Well, I’m SHAVING mine.  I don’t want my wife to look at it and be all, ‘Eeeek!  That’s hairy!"

"It doesn’t grow on it, so much as around it."

Lex: absolutely stricken look on his face

Me: still laughing!

8 thoughts on “Grappling with a “mommyblogger” dilemma

  1. jenny r

    Too sweet. . . in a funny way. My girls are still little but we say it all pretty openly with all the appropriate words (except no one, I mean no one says “buttocks”). Anyway! I figure at some point it’ll become embarrassing. You forget though all the little things you just assume as a kid. I thought boys had to sqeeze out the pee, not just aim, until I was in college!

    Reply
  2. marian

    And so it begins. Boys are delightful, aren’t they? Mine grew a little hair under his arms when he was around 10 for some crazy reason. The rest of it happened at the usual times, but I remember all his friends standing around in the yard while he held his arms up so they could look at the hairs and exclaim.

    Reply
  3. k.

    that was definitely worth a little future parent-child alienation. my seven year old is already becoming uncooperative about being an extra in my blog, and will probably pursue legal emancipation by the time he is in grade three.

    on a slightly more serious note, I blogged a few entries back about where the boundaries are with respect to blogging about family…I grew up the daughter of a writer, so I have first-hand experience of being on the receiving end.

    like your site….i am del.icio.using it right now.

    k.

    Reply

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