Whose Wife Am I?

Boys are just an entirely different breed, let me tell ya!  I have lots of sisters and grew up pretty used to the drama induced by a house raging with feminine hormones.  My oldest child is a girl, and such an easy little girl, at that!  Just when I was starting to get confident (cocky?) about my brilliant parenting abilities, God let His sense of humor loose.  By February I will have had three boys in three years.  Having three boys under the age of four is not even the scary part; I can't bring myself to ponder having three teenage boys that close together without wincing.  I am praying now just thinking about it.

One thing I am learning about little boys is that they are just men in miniature form.  Well, either that, or men are just boys in giant form.  Whichever it is, there's not much difference!

My 2 and 1/2 year old son, Corbin, is so boy it's not even funny.  No, I mean it really isn't funny -- he scares me to death with his wild antics and dangerous exploits!  Lately he has been paying an extra amount of attention to his Daddy and trying to mirror him, as he always has.  However, the difference now is that there seems to be an air of competition to his imitations.  Let me share with you what occurred at the breakfast table this morning:

Phil had just finished saying the blessing and he leaned over to give me a kiss before we started eating.  Corbin looked him dead in the eye, frowning, and said, "Don't you kiss my Momma, she MINE!". 
My husband, imitating Corbin's macho tone of voice, said, "No way, boy....she is MINE!". 
Corbin: "She MY Mommy!"
Phil:  "Well she's MY wife!"
Corbin:  "No, she MY wife!"
Phil:  "I married her, she's MY wife!"
Corbin:  "No, I married her...she MINE!"
Phil:  "Boy, I bought and paid for her and she is MINE!"
Corbin:  "No, I bought paid her....so she MINE!"

And that would be where I interrupted and informed them that, bought and paid for or not, I would NOT be serving them the food I prepared if they didn't stop arguing over me.  They settled for a truce, deciding that they could share me as a wife.  How nice for me.

I just wish that you could have heard their voices.  I don't know if it was like two grown men fighting over a woman or two little boys fighting over a toy, but they seemed like clones of each other in that moment.  Same tone of voice, same furrowed brow, same intense "just try me" stare.  My husband, was of course, greatly amused by this interaction, and part of me can't help but feel there is something healthy in this macho head-butting that has been going on lately.  Corbin is identifying himself with his Daddy and wanting to be the leader, just like he sees his Daddy leading.  Those are good things!  Their man wars are silly, but so sweet at the same time when I think about what is really taking place.  I'm thankful beyond words that Corbin, and Daniel and Samuel for that matter, have such a godly model to mimic as they sort out what all it means to be a man, husband, and father!

Tonight, as I tucked Corbin into bed, he kissed me on the cheek and said, "Good night, wife. You my best Mommy ever."  That boy is all man, but -- like his Daddy -- is also the most soft-hearted man I've ever met.  So is our little guy, Daniel.  I suspect Samuel will be the same.  If they don't kill me by a heart attack with their shennanigans, they are going to kill me by a broken heart with their tender kisses and sweet nothings whispered into my ear!  I have one heck of an adventure cut out for me in the days to come with testosterone at dangerous levels in my home, but something tells me that when I'm old and gray I will have a whole lot more laugh lines to show for it!

UPDATE (11/4/09):
So the wife drama continues.  This morning while Corbin was finishing his breakfast, Phil sat down on the couch next to me and leaned in for a kiss.  Corbin started to say, "she MY wife," but stopped himself and said, "Okay, Dad, she OUR wife.  We share her."  My ever-so-loving husband replied, without missing a beat, "Good idea son, because she's definitely too dang much woman for one man to handle".  Corbin put another spoonful of yogurt in his mouth and nodded knowingly in agreement as Phil said, "maybe between the two of us we can tame this one".  Fortunately Phil was sitting close enough for me to pinch him -- bad planning on his part.  It's quite fun for me actually, because I know the teasing is just their flirtatious way of saying that they love me and are thankful they have me.  I'm thankful for them too, the little brats ;o)