Of course, I knew he was a boy.  I dressed him in blue and we played trains and trucks and read books about reptiles.   But up until that day I had always just considered him my baby.  My sweet little baby.
Fast forward a few years and his older sister was already 6 and she was into dress up and princesses and everything pink.

We were holding hands and I said,-Oh,

 

He was four and we were walking downtown Chicago when we came to the water tower on Michigan avenue which looks like a castle.

We were holding hands and I said, “Oh, look at the castle! I wonder if we can see the princess up there?”

Eyeing me as if I were nuts he exclaimed, “What princess?  I’m searching for the dragon!”

 

That was when I first realized it.  He was a boy.  All boy.  My boy; and He was going to see things differently than me.

 

Therefore I needed to teach him and train him and relate to him in a completely new way than I did with my daughter.  With my girls I know what hurts them and why and how to best help them navigate. I get them.  I remember what it was like to be an 8 year old girl, a 12 year old girl, a 16 year old girl.  I can answer the questions about why little girls like to daydream about their weddings, why their feelings get hurt easily, why they color in rainbows and flowers.

 

But my boys? – no idea.  My husband gets them.  He has the answers to my questions . . because he is a boy. The most burning one being . . .

 

Why does everything have to be made into a weapon?  A stick, a paper towel tube, even a marshmallow, as soft as that is, becomes a bullet when you have a couple of sticks and a rubber band.

Why are they always always hungry?  And how many arm pit farts can you really do in a row?

 

I knew after that short conversation in Chicago that he was going to hear the things I said differently; see the things I saw through a different filter.

 

When I don’t get it–how to relate, what to say, what to do, this is the verse I turned to then and the verse I turn to now.

 

“Trust in the Lord with your whole heart; and do not lean on your own understanding.”

In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Because even when everything changes around you, the Word is constant.  Never changing.  Always true.

And for those times when I still mess up,

“God gives grace to the humble…”

James 4:6

-Dee Kasberger