Eight years ago, I was completely surprised that I gave birth to a baby boy.
I come from a family of five daughters. Chris comes from a family of three sons. My older sister has four boys and my younger sister has three girls. When I was pregnant for the third time, I hadn’t bought a single piece of boy clothing. I didn’t shop for blue bedding. I had barely even bothered to think of boy names before I went to the hospital.
I was absolutely positive that my third child was going to be a third daughter.
And then came Henry.
That huge 9 pound, 2 ounce boy was different from my daughters from the moment I met him.
Before I had a son, I always thought parents just didn’t try to control their wild and rambunctious boys. I’m sure it’s like those people that are “perfect parents” before they actually have children of their own. I thought solid rules and good disciple was all it took to keep kids reigned in.
Once I had a boy, I realized raising boys is just different than raising girls. As much as I’d like to think that it’s nurture over nature, boys have a wild streak in them that they are born with. Henry has that mix of high tolerance for pain, low level of fear and a whole lot of energy and curiosity. Large amounts of food are consumed, toys are taken apart, bikes are rode without holding on, walls are climbed, arms are broken….
Not all surprises have been rowdy. Before I had a son, I thought it was ridiculous that mothers would tell me their sons were always more cuddly than their daughters. How could a whole gender want more hugs from mom than the other? Perhaps they were spoiling their sons more, I thought.
And yet, it’s true. When Henry was a toddler and I was seven months pregnant, he wasn’t satisfied to just sit on my lap. He wanted me to stand and hold him, so he felt completely embraced. (And any pregnant mother of a toddler knows you just want to sit down!) Even now, though he refuses band-aids and can shake off the pain of a scraped knee in three seconds, he clings to me at bedtime and wants hugs to last forever.
Eight years ago, I was completely surprised by my son. And I love every ounce of him.