[BOY MOMS] Nina from The Joni Journey

Monday, July 14, 2014


Hello fellow boy moms! I'm Nina, mom to Ezra, and I blog about our family adventures and my learning curve as a new(ish) mom over at The Joni Journey (Joe + Nina = Joni).

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I'm a huge fan of Elizabeth's #BoyMom series, and am so excited to participate. To be honest, I was a little skeptical that boys and girls would be very different at this age (14 months). I figured Ezzy's "boy" traits would come out later, like when he was 3 or 4. But then I noticed that little girls Ezzy's age actually play with baby dolls and stuffed animals. Like they hug them and cuddle them and love on them.

What does Ezzy do if you give him stuffed animals? Well, if you give him two stuffed animals, he'll bash their heads together and then throw them across the room - all while laughing maniacally. Apparently the nurturing trait hasn't kicked in yet.

But give that kid a ball and he'll chase it, throw it, kick it, catch it - all.day.long.

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Ezzy's idea of paradise.
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Other things Ezzy loves:
  • He already likes watching sports on TV. He was only 8 months old during this year's Super Bowl, but he'd pay attention to the game, then play with his toys and ignore the TV once the commercials came on (I thought those were the best part!), then when the game started again he'd suddenly be glued to the TV.
  • Dirt. He likes to dig in it. Throw it. Eat it. Cover himself in it.
  • All is well in his world if he's outside somewhere that he can watch moving cars. The bigger and louder the car, the better. And the boy already loves motorcycles. I'm dreading the day he turns 16...
  • Screaming. Not temper tantrum screaming. Just yelling at the top of his lungs to exercise his vocal chords at least a dozen times a day. I envision the words "indoor voice" are going to be said on repeat for the next decade or so.
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When I was younger, I was the little girl playing with baby dolls or stuffed animals and pretending to be a mom. I loved pink, and frills, and dresses that twirled. My baby dolls were almost always baby girls, and I always pictured myself having a girl that I could dress up and do girly stuff with - like go shopping and get pedicures. Now that I have a boy, I honestly couldn't picture it any other way. As soon as I found out Ezzy's gender (at just 13 weeks pregnant!) I was so happy to be having a healthy pregnancy, that I adjusted right away to the news. It felt natural to me that he was a boy. I'm not going to claim that I had any premonitions or mother's intuition about his sex, because I really didn't, but I was happy with the news. And when he joined our family back in May 2013, he instantly felt like the perfect addition to our family (you can read his birth story here). It's so cliche but true that we have a hard time now remembering what life was like before him. That being said, I had absolutely no idea what boys like to do for fun. Even now, when I'm shopping for presents for any of my friends' daughters, I can pick out 20 different toys that I know they'll love, because I would've loved them as a child. But put me in the boy section of the toy store with all the action heroes and transformers and cars and I'm lost.

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Things I love about being a boy mom:
  • There's no pressure to dress Ezzy up in bows and matching socks and all that madness. Pre-kids, I thought that would be so fun. Post-kids, we were lucky to even change out of our pjs for the first three months of Ezzy's life. Actually, who am I kidding? Ezzy just lived in a diaper 24/7 (he was a summer baby). We could have skipped the newborn clothes entirely.
  • Another clothing-related perk: I love how little boy clothes are miniature men's clothes. They're much more simple and classic and neutral than baby girl clothes. While I thought I'd love the pink and the ruffles, I'm actually a fan of how Ezzy and Joe have the same style. Melts my heart.
  • I get to experience childhood from a completely different perspective. Boy or girl, parenthood is a learning curve, and I think we're all in new territory the first time around, but I do think it's fun to notice and partake in Ezzy's excitement about stuff that I never noticed when I was a kid - like cars and sports.
  • I get to help shape Ezzy from a baby, to a boy, to a young man. This is true for both boy and girl parents, but it's a huge honor (and responsibility) to be the one teaching this little guy about life and helping him find his place in it. I get to be his biggest fan and cheerleader, the person trying to answer all his "why" questions, and his shoulder to cry on. The thought of all that makes my heart fuller than I ever imagined it could be.

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If you would like to share a post about you and your son, email me at chasinmasonblog@gmail.com .
I would love to feature you! You don't have to have a blog to participate!


2 comments:

  1. I'm sitting here nodding to all of this. Especially the boy clothes. I LOVE how they're just little men's clothes. While I often dream of what pink and frills would be like, I can't help but swoon over some of the stuff that is out there for the little guys!

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    Replies
    1. There's just something so adorable about a "mini man" - and fedoras are too cute if you wanna get fancy!

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