Two Boys

I feel that recently I have finally began to get the taste of what life will be like with two boys. Up until recently, it was more like I just had two kids, not necessarily two boys. As Will is getting older, he has started showing all those stereotypical tendencies of boys. I have to admit, I am not liking this.

I had an older brother who was constantly tormenting me growing up. Actually, he still torments me now when he gets a chance. When he was in one of his moods, I got to play the part of the tormentee. My poor mother was left trying to discipline my brother and comfort me. With two boys, it is me constantly dealing with two tormentors and two tormentees. Most of the time I am lost on where I should draw the line and where I should just leave them to themselves to work things out.

Today I pretty much let them torment each other. Mainly their tormenting is done via toy stealing. It used to be that Marcus would be the sole stealer. Now Will waits until he sees and opening and swoops in. He doesn't just run away with the toy. He backs a few steps away and waits for Marcus to get mad. And of course, the madder the tormentee gets, the more successful the tormentor was.

This new tactic of handling this situation is working wonders for my stress level. All this tormenting is no longer tormenting me! I get to sit back and watch and hope that fists don't start flying. Then I have to get involved.