Confessions of a Real Mom, Episode 1

I love my kids. I have two sons, one 6 years old and the other almost 8. And let me tell you, they're awesome. My boys have so many qualities that make them supremely special and likable--not just lovable, but truly likable. And despite anything I write in this blog about any other topics, my sons are really the center of my universe. So hey, I'm gonna brag about them. I'll start with the firstborn.

Our older boy, "R", just started 2nd grade, and we're pretty confident he'll breeze through this school year just as he did kindergarten and 1st grade. Because he's that smart. "Scary smart," as I like to call it. Even when R was a toddler, hubby and I could tell he was exceptionally bright. And not just because he was our kid and we really hoped he would be brilliant. These days, we aren't the only ones who notice and appreciate the power of R's intellect. At our first conference with his 1st grade teacher last fall, she gushed about his reading and writing skills, showed off his journal, and declared that he was one of the smartest kids she has ever encountered in her 15 years of teaching.

R has many passions. Reading is one of them. He begs for books. Any time we get in the car--even if it's just for a 10-minute drive to the nearest grocery store--he wants to take along something to read. He's already graduated from "baby books" to novels. When he reads aloud, his fluency is amazing (frankly, he does better than most adults I know). R also loves scientific subjects, especially space travel and animals. His current favorite animal is a badger--for some mysterious reason, he has become a huge fan of the state of Wisconsin in general, and the University of Wisconsin Badgers in particular. Go figure--we live in University of Illinois territory. Aside from the badger, R is totally in love with cats, especially our two. He has said many times that he loves our cats, Xev and Starbuck, as much as he loves the rest of us--and he can't understand it when Daddy and I tell him that we love him and his brother MORE than we love the cats. To R, our kitties are absolutely equal members of our family.

In the last year or so, R has discovered that Legos are one of the absolute coolest toys ever invented. He also includes the six Star Wars films in his list of the absolute coolest movies ever. So naturally, at the top of his birthday wish list is virtually everything in the Lego Star Wars line. He also longs for the Star Wars Lego game for Xbox. Like his Daddy, R has decided that he prefers the villains in the Star Wars universe, particularly Darth Vader (a timeless classic) and General Grievous from the newest film.

One passion that R has inherited solely from Mommy (me) is his love of sports, especially football and baseball (my hubby is living proof that not every red-blooded American male likes sports). We haven't managed to get R signed up to play any sports yet--our work schedules make that sort of thing difficult at this point--but R has watched many games with me already, including the World Series, Super Bowls, NBA championships, NCAA football and basketball championships, and the Stanley Cup finals (way "back in the day" before the NHL lockout wiped out an entire season). I tell you, the boy LOVES to watch sports. And he's already become quite knowledgeable about them. Already, he can rattle off all the NFL and MLB teams, including what conference or league they are in. What can I say? I'm raising him right!

About 3 years ago, at the tender age of 5, when he first fell in love with football, R decided that his favorite NFL team was the Green Bay Packers (that was actually the beginning of his Wisconsin obsession). Now, I don't know exactly where his interest in the Pack came from. There aren't any other Green Bay fans in our family. I had been a Dolphins fan since 1974 (who knows why? I had never been anywhere near Florida), and a Bears fan since 1985 (yeah, I was a "bandwagon" fan who managed to stay on the wagon long after the Monsters of the Midway became monstrously mediocre). When I discovered Da Bears during their magical Super Bowl season, I couldn't bear the idea of abandoning Shula, Marino & Co.--my sense of loyalty just wouldn't allow it. As a result, for nearly 20 years I had TWO favorite NFL teams--Miami in the AFC, and Chicago in the NFC. To me, it made sense. But then out of the blue, here was my beautiful little firstborn son, telling me HIS team was the Packers, and what could I do?

I will always maintain a special fondness for the 'Phins, the team I chose for MY own when I was the age R is now. But when R declared his love for the guys from Lambeau, I decided, to heck with the Bears. The idea that I could share the Packer passion with my boy was much more important to me than my collegiate memories of those many Sundays spent watching Payton and Singletary. And as anybody who knows ANYTHING about the NFL surely knows, you CAN'T be both a Bears fan AND a Packers fan. That's nothing short of pigskin heresy, as absurd as rooting for both the Yankees AND the Red Sox, or the St. Louis Cardinals AND the Chicago Cubs (speaking of which, I also have TWO favorite baseball teams, the Red Sox and the Cardinals...but that's another story). Anyway, R's sweet, innocent, pure love for the Packers has changed the way I celebrate the football season. My amazing son has made me a Green Bay convert. So much so, that when hubby and I took the boys on a vacation to Wisconsin three months ago, I insisted that we put Green Bay on our itinerary so I could take our sons to see Lambeau Field and the Packer Hall of Fame & Museum (both of them are well worth the visit, by the way). R loved it, of course. I admit, I was stunned when he proclaimed that the coolest part of the Lambeau Field visit was seeing the giant bronze statues of Vince Lombardi and Curly Lambeau that grace the main entrance. But hey, that's R...quirky enough to keep things interesting.

Yes, I'm overflowing with pride over this scrawny little genius who looks like a virtual clone of myself at that age (except he's a boy, of course). He's a terrific kid. Even if he weren't related to me, he's the kind of kid I'd really enjoy hanging out with. The fact that he is my son means that I get to enjoy hanging out with him on a very frequent basis. R's younger brother, O, is equally amazing. But alas, it's getting really late, and it's a "school night"--which means that I'm going to be getting up early to make sure my boys don't miss the school bus. So I'll sing my praises of my second son another time. Don't miss Confessions of a Real Mom, Episode 2...

Oh, by the way...in case you're wondering about the photo I've included on this posting, R's favorite beverage in the whole world is Starbucks coffee. Yep, that's Mommy's influence. Hey, it could be worse, right?