My boys are ruining my baby

So that I don't leave you hanging, as if any of you are, my trip to the lake with my lady friends was wonderful, refreshing, and well worth doing. I had a great time. I bobbed around a lake for a while in a life jacket, I cried, I laughed, I made cinnamon rolls. In other words, it was the quintessential girls' weekend. There was the one adventure with the 4 of us nearly sinking a paddle boat, but other than that, it was a peaceful, recharging weekend. And man did I need it.

I returned home to discover that my boys were still boys. They were still loud, gaseous, wild little stinkers. But you could tell they really missed me, and despite the desperate way that I had wished for a break, I was ready to return to my crazy little men.

So, fast forward a week, and here I am with the above mentioned conclusion: My boys are ruining my baby. My baby is precious. He is sweet. He is also about 20 months old, and not so much of a baby anymore. I know this is natural, but my heart rebels against it. He needs to stay sweet and innocent and neutral forever. I guess when you have three older brothers, though, this is not a realistic goal.

So, how are they ruining him? Here are some examples. When he passes gas, or "toots" as we call it, he laughs. Hysterically. Then he bends over and shoves REALLY hard to try to do it again, with his audience of older brothers laughing with equal hysterics. He didn't figure this one out by himself.

Secondly, today the boys were making "under-arm toots", and he sat with them, laughing and flapping one bent arm like a demented one-winged chicken. Which of course led to much laughing from the peanut gallery, and tons of "Mamma, you should see what Tobe is doing!!" I decided that since I was eating, I didn't need to observe the pit-toots just right then.

Well, I guess it was just a matter of time before he began to explore the fun side of being a big boy. The sounds a boy can make with his body, for some reason, are of endless fascination to them. Must be the testosterone or something. Tobe has discovered that he can make car noises with his mouth, and can chatter on endlessly with strange, nonsensical sounds pouring from his face. He also didn't learn this one on his own. I have a 9 year old that handed that one down.

So, the moral of the story is, it is time for another one. The boys have ruined my sweet little innocent, neutral baby by turning him into a BOY. I guess we'll just have to pray that God wants us to have another child so that I can have another 18 months or so before that child, (undoubtedly male), crosses over to the dark side, leaving me here, alone, on the pink side.

Truth be told, I wouldn't have them any other way. For some reason, God in His wisdom, made them to be farting, burping, pit-tooting little wild men. And that same wisdom dropped me in this bucket with them. I'll be forever grateful.