The Extent of My Reading

Thank goodness I have friends who have time to read and then post excerpts and thoughts on what they read. I picked up a book last night for the first time in who knows how long (not including the book I had to read for my exam yesterday). It was "Bringing up Boys". I think the first chapter was 6 or 8 pages and I didn't even finish. To be honest I was a little frustrated at what I'd read so far and wanted to do some research to see if Dr. Dobson has any girls (he has one girl and one boy). The first few pages talked about how much harder boys are than girls. I was expecting it to be totally about how hard boys are...and again I only read a few pages...but I didn't expect it to make it sound like girls were easy. So, being completely exhausted from my troublesome two...I put the book down, complained to my husband, and then tried to watch Days of Our Lives which I had recorded earlier that day.

From parents who have both sexes of children...I've heard mixed reviews. I know my boys are only 4 months...so I don't count yet. I can say that the past four months with just the three boys (excluding the two girls) was much easier than the first four months with only one of either of my girls. That could be because I'm such an experienced mother now - ha! But...It seems that what I hear most are that boys are more physically challenging to parents and girls are more emotionally challenging. Lucy and Grace are both very emotional creatures. There is no denying that. They may not be as physical as boys...but they are pretty physical. They seem to be daredevils with no concept of getting hurt. They love to climb and jump and have no comprehension of the fact that they can't swim - Grace loves to jump into the pool whether there is someone to catch her or not. A couple of times I've let her go down under hoping she'll understand the consequences. But to no avail. Both girls are little tornadoes. That has to be the most frustrating. Gracie is at the stage now where she just destroys because she thinks it's fun. And she shrieks and screams out of anger a lot. Talk about fingernails on a chalkboard. I expect that my life is going to get much harder when the boys start moving around. I can't imagine 3 little Gracie's (or worse) right now (Lucy went through the same stage...and is better...but still a tornado.) And I hate bugs...so do the girls. I'm sure I will be endlessly tortured by my boys.

Anyway...I do plan to continue with the book. I was just too tired last night. It will probably be next year by the time I finish. But I really am thankful that some people post educational things on their blogs. Amy about Velvet Elvis, Traci about all the books on heaven she has read, and Cassie & Jody on all the books and quotes they're always providing. Short, sweet and to the point...their recaps save me hundreds of pages of useless information. :)