"A Boy is Noise with Dirt on It"

It doesn't matter how warm or cold outside it is, how dry or wet; in his mind the only footware out there is his mud boots.....put on the wrong feet.  As he would say, "I want 'em on da wrong feet."  

He loves his motorcycle and playing "in the fence,"

and he can get dirty, down-to-the-skin, in-between-the-toes dirty, just standing still.

He loves his adult size Matco Tools hat sinched down to the smallest size.



He loves our new puppy, Belle, or "Be-o-oo" (replace the "ll" sound with the "w" sound) as he calls her. After asking "Where is Daddy?" when he wakes up in the morning, the next thing out of his mouth is "Where is Belle?"  Then it's "Can Belle come inside?" and when he's not happy with that answer, it's "I wanna go outside."

They have a love to cuddle...

...love to fight relationship.

Between the two of them, it's a miracle that we have anything left intact around here.

This boy is covered in scratches and bruises, and inspecting "owies" is a daily occurence.

It's just simple boyhood; getting dirty, tearing things apart, and driving mom nuts keeping mom humble.

When I can stifle my exasperation long enough to really see him as he is and not just the whirlwind of destruction behind him, I see a loving little boy with a warrior spirit who's got what it takes to blaze his own trail. He doesn't need the path I can make for him, he just needs me to mark his path with the right boundaries.