Swiss Miss and My Wild Thing

I've had a lot of fun with Maggie's hair growing so long and we've loved doing braids, pigtails, "twisty buns" and every other hairdo you can think of. The other day I was tired of all our usual 'dos so I tried a new one. I think she looks like a little Swiss Miss here...but I love it!
I always knew I would love having a girl, having spent most of my life as one of three sisters, and I always looked forward to all the girlie stuff like ballet, tea parties, doll houses, dress-up, and I have to admit...it's just as much fun as I thought. In my opinion Maggie is the perfect combination of super girlie-girl but also spunky, athletic, and not afraid to get dirty (to a certain point).
When I thought about having a boy I felt intimidated and not too excited about attending millions of little league games or having to talk about GI Joe's or Star Wars a million times. I knew I would want to be involved with whatever my kids (boy or girl) would want to do but I didn't think I'd have that much interest in certain aspects of boy-dom. Well, I just have to say, I know Finn's not really old enough to be doing too many boy things but I could not be more in love with him and relish the fact that he's a boy. It's so much fun. One of the things that really made me excited about raising a boy was reading David Thomas' book "Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys". It's all about raising a boy who is confident and manly yet able to feel and express a wide range of emotions. There are bits of practical advice, insights that shocked me, and a million cool things that I look forward to doing with Finn (or letting Grant do with him). I think anyone who is raising a boy should read this book, even (especially?!) if they're already in middle school or high school. All right, there's my little plug...now go out there and get this book!