A New Title

I have seriously considered changing the name of my blog to "My Life with 3 Alpha Males." I think that pretty much sums up what it's like around here. I tried it out on my mother-in-law, and she liked it, adding "add two more alpha males and you know what my life was like." I would rather not even try to imagine that right now.
Each male in this house believes that he is the one in charge and balks at one of the others trying to impress his will on the others. Individually, they are fine with this female, but get them together and all sorts of aggressive tactics surface to undermine the other two, thereby securing superiority. And sometimes, it's not the need to conquer, its just being a male. Even in the littlest one. Yesterday during Carter's lenghthy lunch time prayer, Will passed gas loudly and was so pleased with himself, he began to chuckle at his accomplishment. This left Nathan and me to bite the corners of our mouths to keep the consecrated air that Carter requires when asks the blessing. Apparently, the little alpha male who did the praying didn't hear the alpha male who was passing gas, because upon the prayer's completion, Carter said, "That was a really good prayer, wasn't it?!"
Right now, Nathan is reading a book to Carter and Will. Will is screaming because he is wanting to turn the pages. Carter is screaming "Will! Will!" And Nathan is saying "Guys! Wait- don't pull at the pages. _I'll_ be in charge of turning the pages." Which alpha male will win? Stay tuned to find out!
Carter has begun exhibiting a new talent as a singer/songwriter. He has a small kit-tar (guitar) that we got in Mexico. At the time, he felt that it was "NOT the best kit-tar in the whole wide world" because it wasn't the bigger one he wanted. But now, he's taken to it and carries it around and sings slowly and sweetly "Oh my koo-ka-lay-lee", three times in a row. This is followed by wild dancing and loudly singing "oh woh woh woh woh, " three times. It's pretty hilarious and the more we laugh the more he sings it. He composed another song after supper tonight called "I love you." It was about loving God and wanting you to love God, too.
Also, Carter has taken up physical fitness. During Will's nap today, he decided that he needed to do 100 push ups. His dad is an excellent push-upper as a former Wildcat. Carter got down and did 30 pretty good push-ups. I was very impressed. Then he did some sit-ups, toe-touches, arm circles, jumping jacks, and running in place. When he was done, he said "Ah, that felt good."
Not to be outdone, Will is still showcasing his acrobatic talent and lack of fear. As I spoke to someone from church on the phone, I couldn't figure out why the cordless phone was making the page noise. Carter has outgrown any delight this button pushing gives and Will is too short to reach the base as it is sitting on my desk. After I finished my call, I looked around and found that neither of the boys were near it. I don't think it could page itself, could it? Then about 20 minutes later, I walked into the living room to see Will standing up in the desk chair (which he first must have pulled out) and leaning over the desk to it's little shelf to reach the phone base. So, the good news it we don't have a ghost. The bad news is that the pediatrician was right, he's not going to be disciplined out of his innate urge to climb. I have it on good authority that his father was also a daredevil climber -as was his brother.
Which leads me to genes. In the nature vs. nurture debate, I used to lean heavily toward nurture. I doubted seriously that genes could really be in control of how our brains work in relation to reacting to stimuli. Or even personality. Disposition and temperament were things that were observed and then mimicked by children. However slowly, the truth began to be revealed to me. My first inkling that these mysterious codings in our DNA determines more than our eye color was when I found myself say something just like my father or like his family would say it. Initially, I thought I had just internalized their personality traits from observing and copying. But when my mother asked this harried mother what I'd like for my birthday and I answered, earnestly and truthfully, "to be left alone" she remarked that I was just like my father. Suddenly, I realized he used to say this exact statement and now I understood why he had said it. I hadn't said it because I thought it was funny or because I was trying to be like him, it sprung forth from my need for some peace and quiet. I had forgotten he used to say it. Briefly, I had even thought it was my own invention. That moment was when nature became a real possibility.
Then, after observing the similarities between my husband, his brothers, and their father, I am further persuaded the force is strong with them. One such trait is thriftiness. I will say at the outset, I find thriftiness to be admired. My motto is that if you are thrifty you are never poor. You may quote me on that, for I know I will need to be reminded. Being thrifty is certainly a learned value system but the degree to which this family can manifest such convictions is fused into their very beings. And when I say family, I include extended family. I will forgo any examples of the older generations because supplying evidence of their thriftiness is not needed. I only need to present this confirmation. As Carter and I discussed his birthday and the celebration he desired, it was necessary to pick out some napkins for his class lunch. On birthdays, the honoree may bring in napkins of their choice for the class. I suppose this keeps over-acheiver mothers like me from making cupcakes from the Martha Stewart Over-Achiever Mother Cookbook. Carter said, "why don't I save all the napkins that everyone else gives me and then give them back to those people on my birthday." Nathan radiated with pride and pronounced this a great idea. It was an idea from his family handbook of creative thriftiness. It is the genius of this thriftiness that it is also creative - each child would get a unique napkin that s/he would surely like - because they originally picked it out. It also saves us the price of two packages of new napkins. Carter has his father's creative thrifty gene.
Will, on the other hand, has his paternal grandmother's love of shoes. Yes, Will is a boy and he loves his shoes. When we tried some Crocs on him that matched his brother's, he couldn't stop looking at his feet and smiling. If you try to take shoes off of him, he protests vehemently and when it's time to put shoes on, he smiles and points his toes, giggling in anticipation. I was a little worried at first, but then I remembered one of our more masculine friends is in a career where appearance matters and he's big on shoes, too. He often comments on my son's shoes. And, of course, Michael Jordon. He completely revolutionized sport shoes and the industry. So maybe my son, who won't even take his shoes off to go to sleep, will have an important contribution in the footwear industry.
I'm not entirely sure what genes these boys have received from my DNA. Carter is pretty artistic and gets lots of comments from teachers about his ability in that area. And both seem to have my deep need for chocolate. Oh, and of course, my cheekbones.
Round 2: The three males are now fighting over who gets to sit in the big chair in the living room. The big one always seems to win. *smile*