Girls vs. Boys.....

It's Friday afternoon and the house is buzzing with kids playing. Early day. I have always known that my boys are different than my girls. Today it was quite obvious. Ella was in the house with her 2 cute friends, Meg and Rachel, playing with Cinderella Polly Pockets and all their MILLION little pieces. In the house of course, because it is way too hot to go outside. (I, of course, am thankful that is still warm outside - I always hate it when summer ends). Meg is our next door neighbor, Ella has known her since birth. They are the kind of friends that either love each other or hate each other (that is probably too strong of a word, oil and water those two, sometimes they don't mix). Rachie is Ellas friend, but is Megs cousin - they did okay today. Both girls feel entitled to Rachie, which can cause problems. The funny thing about Rachel is that she is the daughter of one of my good girlfriends from high school. It is sometimes so weird to me that I still see my friends from 20 years ago and now we have kids who play together. Who would have thought. Anyway, back to the girls, little princesses, dress-up, playing games and the polly's, changing their clothes a gazillion times....

Then there are the boys. This is Jensens new friend from school. Jake. They are on each others football team also, which is fun. These 2 you can't drag in the house. They have been in the sprinklers and have shed their matching white shirts (school uniforms, not so bad!!) They end up in the backyard on the hunt to find, and kill grasshoppers. So gross as far as I am concerned, but for them it is pure joy. They are smashing them, squirting them with water guns, or, prepare yourselves, spitting on them. That is the funniest for them, believe me, they thought this was hilarious. For me, grasshoppers are one of the grossest insects ever, don't like them now, and especially didn't like them when I was little, but they don't seem to bother little boys.
Today was my a-ha moment....these kinds of behavior prepare them for the future. Boys will be boys and girls will be girls. Dressing and re-dressing the polly's for the girls prepare them for their own babies, being natural care givers and mommy's. On the other hand are the boys, smashing bugs which allows them in the future to take care of their wives, killing spiders, mice and any other yucky things that might come our way, being the protector. It is fun to watch these differences in our children. Little things often go unnoticed, but today it just hit me at how different they sometimes can be.