My oldest child wants to argue about everything.

Everything.

He is only six, and already refuses to take direction without a complete run down of why he must complete said requirement and  by the way, might he suggest a different way to accomplish it? I cannot imagine how incredible his debate skills will be by the teen years. If I’m not careful, his father and I will be the ones with a curfew and Isaac will have taken over the master bedroom. After that, look out law school, Isaac is coming and you better have your student handbook in order, otherwise the Captain is going to find the loopholes.

I often have to tell Isaac to just.stop.talking. No, just stop. Nothing more, child, cease speaking. After 32 “buts” this mama starts to loose patience with my little arguer. He is smart, I will give him that. He sees the holes in my logic and hones in on the weakness like an eagle on its’ prey. I can’t even start to give him direction unless I make sure I know the answers to his inevitable follow up questions. Dealing with him is not unlike a game of chess, if I’m not thinking a few steps ahead…I will loose. I am not sure what happened to my little, precious baby boy but he has officially been replaced with a pint sized scholar, with an attitude. For example:

Isaac: Mom, are Storm Troopers good or bad?

Me: Bad, they work for Darth Vader.

Isaac: No, you are wrong.

Me: Isaac, I have seen Star Wars a few more times than you…

Isaac: Well tell that to my Leapster, the Star Wars game let’s me be a good Storm Trooper.

Me: Okay smarty pants, then why did you ask me if you knew the answer?

Isaac: To see what you knew.

I am proud to be Isaac’s mom. I am ecstatic that God gave him such a bright and engaged brain with which to turn the world upside down and around while he searches for flaws in logic and ways to challenge the world. But he drives me batty with this character trait as well. Sometimes I can see in his eyes that he just wants to be the boss, to give direction and be in charge because he thinks he knows it all. Some days, he even seems to get stressed out over the details, as though his brain is years ahead of his 6 year old heart.

Damn.

Isaac gets it from me. The arguing, the quest for justice and logic and fairness in everything. The desire to grow up too fast, to be the boss, to be in charge. All.from.me.

Now that I am the grown up, I am in charge, I wish I could go back. Be a kid, enjoy not having to know the details behind all the decisions. I think my job as Isaac’s mom is to keep him a kid as long as possible. To let him ask all the questions but to also let him know there are limits and that he is not the boss.

Seeing your weaknesses displayed on your children is painful. I know that Isaac’s strong personality and his quick mind will serve him well but it will also bring challenges. Challenges that I have faced and life lessons that I know come with grief.

I am 33 years old and I am just now really beginning to understand and accept the flaws in my personality. I am just now learning when to shut my mouth. How do I teach my child these life lessons, pass down my “wisdom” when I am still learning the lessons myself?

We took the family to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk on Sunday. Not sure what we were thinking, other than it was sunny and the Boardwalk is only 45 minutes away from our house. It was PACKED. We ended up having a great time though, so no complaints here. I can’t tell you how much I love my Phil and Ted’s Stroller – which, along with my parents help made the day possible.  Maybe I will do a post on strollers soon….

By far, the best part of our little adventure was when Kevin and I and the two older boys rode the Log Jammer. I am SHOCKED that both Isaac and Josh didn’t back out of this at the last minute because that is a serious drop at the end. My mom stood at the bottom and snapped the best series of pictures:

So, what you can’t really see is that Isaac is in front of Kevin and Joshie is in front of me. I almost squeezed the life out of Josh on the way down that hill. The paranoid schizo in me couldn’t help imagining him flying out of the ride. At the end I couldn’t tell if he had fun or was just relieved to be out of my death grip. When we got off, both Josh and Isaac said “that was AWESOME!” Seeing a “roller coaster” through a child’s eyes again was so fun. It felt like we made a really great memory in that moment. It also felt like maybe I needed a blow dryer and a new pair of pants to wear.

Growing up in Carmel and having been a big fan of the movie the Lost Boys, I spent a good chunk of my life believing that Santa Cruz was filled with real life vampires. I never really wanted to go there for fear of being whisked off to that cave they lived in a forced to eat maggots. Great movie. Anyhow……If you have ever been to the Boardwalk and experienced the humanity there, then you can’t really blame me. I have to say though, as an adult, I enjoy the unique hippie weirdo culture (that’s the technical term) that is Santa Cruz. It is a fun place to visit. Here are some more shots from the day….

There really aren’t words to describe how funny my mom climbing into that kiddie ride was. The attendant eventually asked her to get out because it wasn’t safe….

Me and Joshie having a grand time waiting in line for the Sea Dragon ride. I actually went on it with him and almost got vertigo. I am getting old.

Ah, the toothless wonder. He looks so adorable with this missing tooth and it is fun to watch him try and say words that start with “F”.

Me and mom, matching smiles and sunglasses. Not sure why I look so tall here. She must be shrinking….

Josh on one of the rides, he looks so old here it kills me. What happened to my baby Joshie?

Dad and Elijah. I feel like I will owe him an apology for that hat in a few years.

With three little people in our lives, this is as close as we get to a family picture.

At the end of the trip, 2 of the 3 gave in to sleep. The oldest sat in the back torturing my mom by wiggling his other loose tooth. Ah, good times.

Later this week, Eli will be 8 months old. I am in shock. Mostly because I still remember when I looked like this and it feels like that was yesterday. I can distinctly remember the leg cramps, the lack of bladder control and the heartburn. Eli was not physically easy to be pregnant with – or maybe it was just that my body was finished housing babies long before my heart was. Either way, he has been so delightful outside of my belly that the ugly pregnancy memories are graying. I actually saw a newborn at church on Sunday and sighed, wishing I could ask to hold her. I nearly fell over the seat in front of me trying to peek at her as she yawned and stretched her tiny little arms. What is wrong with me? I have more children than I can manage, most days feel like a ship being sunk by the crew and here I am fawning over some one’s baby that I don’t even know? The female mind really is the confusing maze my husband thinks it to be.

Back to Eli….I love this stage of babyhood. Somewhere around 6 months until about 1 year, I could just eat babies up. They are so curious and sweet and they babble and drool and have thighs that look like ham hocks. They haven’t figured out how to say “no” or run away from you. They wake up cooing and saying “da da da” and my heart just melts. Each of my boys went through this stage and each time I found myself falling further in love. (until they were about 2 years old and then I might have sold them to the highest bidder.)

Every day Eli laughs deep and loud,  rolls over with gusto in order to get to an object of his desire, tries to eat his special blankie and watches his older brothers with enchantment. Basically, he is all baby. My baby. I love him more than I can tell you here. More than I thought possible when I wrote this post.

I look at Isaac and I see how quickly time goes by, I want to cherish every bit of my time with Eli as a baby because I know that before I can blink, he’ll be asking for the car keys.

P.S. We went to the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz yesterday and got some great pics that I will post tomorrow…..

A three year old singing the theme song to Battleforce 5, poorly. But oh so sweet.

A six year old playing make believe in a world of soldiers and war games that only he sees. Bang! Boom! Whoosh!

A 7 month old blowing raspberries and trying desperately to suck on his own toes.

A  mom and wife,  taking the 5 minutes she has to chat with a girlfriend, laughing at something witty on the other side of the line. Sweet connections.

A husband  and father, with a boy heart, yelling “Beat the Fakers!” at the television.

A mama blue jay, just outside, pecking and poking at her new nest, almost done.

A Glorious Maker, singing over His Creation.

I haven’t posted pictures in AGES. So, I figured it was time to add a little color to the blog.

Before I do however, I thought I would share with you that I have decided that I am no longer going to call it “going to bed.” Realistically, what I do at night is take a series of interrupted naps. Last night I got 6 -one hour long naps, all punctuated by either a crying baby, a request for water or a request for comfort due to a bad dream. Maybe if I just plan on taking “naps” I will be less upset when I am woken up 7 times each night. Or maybe, I’m just going to go sleep in the garage…

I am sure over time there will be a million posts about my three boys. However, as I begin this journey of being a mother of three I can’t help  but share some of the things I’ve experienced so far.

First of all, when pregnant with a boy for the 3rd time, you are more likely to get condolences than congratulations. Men who would comment on my pregnancy, and then discover I was pregnant with another boy would inevitably say things like:

I’m one of three boys, my poor mother.

I’m one of four boys, my mom was a trooper.

I’m one of two boys, my mom is glad we are out of the house.

I’m one of several boys, my mom is trained in martial arts.

Okay so not really the last one but I imagine that karate would be a useful skill for me to acquire in the next few years. It would help with deflecting flying Buzz Lightyear toys and legos. If any of you are wondering what it is like to be a mother to so many boys, I can only say that I don’t really know yet. Eli is still at that androgynous baby stage (as evidenced by the MANY, “she is so cute” comments at Target and the mall). He isn’t really all boy yet, just a sweet, smiling little bug that eats poops and sleeps….hmmm, maybe he is all boy.

“Boydom” is in full swing with Joshua and Isaac though. They have taken to wrestling and fighting a good portion of the time they are together. Isaac is my pacifist, not really down with all of the physicality that Joshua exudes. Like a good dog would do, he takes several punches from the smaller pup before he growls. Joshie is ALL BOY. Often times after people have been around him for a period of time I get comments like:

Wow, he sure is full of energy!

That kid never stops!

Josh is a firecracker!

These things are all spanish for – holy sh%t, how do you do it?  The answer is, I have learned the fine art of “tuning him out.” Joshie talks nonstop and is always getting into something he shouldn’t. Often during the day I will hear the vaccum go on or the pump for the air mattress. He is obsessed with things that make noise. I know that if he is “vaccuming” he at least isn’t pestering Isaac. Unfortunately though, while Isaac may not be the first to throw a punch, he is incredibly loud. You take his booming voice plus Joshie’s daily vaccuming session and….The  level of noise in our house is maybe only rivaled by the cast of Jersey Shore but I am pretty sure there is just as much testosterone and fist bumping going on here.

As I settle in with my three sons I can offer the following observation – I am sure that my life over the next few years will in some ways resemble Lord of the Flies. You know, a bunch of boys on an island (our house) trying to kill their leader (me and Kevin). So glad I was forced to read that book and understand the boy mentality. Anyone know where I can get a conch shell?