Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Boys will be boys

So anyone who knows me knows that our son is the love of my life! He is the coolest little guy I've ever known and although he is our only child and I'm his "Momma" I try to not baby him too much. There are many rites of passage for a child, especially a boy and I try to not hinder or prevent them from happening. Liam needs to grow up sooner or later but I always hope for the later and that his experiences will occur in a positive way.

Over time he's gotten into the "cowboy" phase - you know, the boots, the hat, "giddy-up horsey" and I've indulged him to a point. He's even going through the "bang-bang" and pretending to play with guns, which I do NOT allow but thinks he can outwit me by telling me, "no Momma, it's not a gun...it's a cannon." Yeah, right!

Anyway, through it all, I allow him to be a boy and to discover the world around him but today I got the unexpected. Before I continue, I will post a warning that although the remainder of my story is not graphic, if you are squeamish about reptiles, this may not be the story for you. Consider yourself warned.

I was picking Liam up at school today and found as usual, he was outside playing with his class. I made my way to the door and as I opened it I found Liam standing in the mulched playground near the ramp which leads to the building. Almost all the kids were standing in a group near Liam and some were yelling, "EWWW!!!" , "UGH!", "YUCK, Liam!" I saw Liam looking at the ground and he started stomping the mulch with his little cowboy boots. I called his name and he met my gaze with a huge smile. I told him, "let's go...time for swim school" and he answered back with, "Momma!!! I catched a lizard! I catched a lizard and squished his tail off!!"

UGH! My heart sank. There are a few things Eric and I have always done and one of those things is rescuing the creatures we find in the house and placing them outside instead of killing them. Maybe we're weird like that but we feel they've become lost and they deserve to live as much as we do. Now, don't get me wrong, scorpions are a different story! Those suckers should be stomped into oblivion for all I care!

So, back to Liam and his lizard...he had caught the lizard and I'm assuming the lizard let go of its tail as its defense and took off. Liam was left with the tail in his hand and it was still moving. GROSS!!!! I had never seen that kind of thing before so it really creeped me out and saddened me at the same time but I also know the lizard will eventually grow a new one but still...that poor lizard!!!

Liam thought it was the coolest thing ever and even went as far as to throwing the tail on the ground and stomped on it. I can't get the image of that tail wagging around and it's making me nauseous thinking about it. I've always told Liam that we don't hurt creatures and what about that poor lizard who went home and all his friends saw he didn't have a tail anymore. And what about the pain...didn't it hurt when he squished off his tail? And the fear that poor reptile felt, enough for him to lose his tail! I wasn't trying to freak Liam out but wanted him to really think about what had happened and what his actions had caused.

I was met with a response and I guess I should have known better...I was told, "Momma, I think he'll grow a new tail". As simple as that...he again, tried to outwit me and this time succeeded.

Boys....somehow I think this is just the beginning of a long road of Momma letting her boy be just that....a boy.

1 comment:

Karen said...

The wiggly tails are disturbing.

We have a Mother's Day card at Hallmark that says, "Raising boys is an extreme sport." Yeah ... I know it will only get more interesting from here on out.