Tea Parties and Little Boys

If you know me at all - you know I have dreamed of grandbabies for years and years before we were blessed with Casen, our almost 2 year old grandson. I couldn't wait to hold them, love on them and to eventually do all the things Grandmas do with their grandbabies. One of the dreams I had was to have tea parties with any granddaughters we might have. I figured that dream would be on hold for a while with having Casen and now his little brother on the way, but today I was proved wrong.

I have a toy chest that holds bags of fun things - a camouflage bag with toy soldiers and tanks, an ocean print with pirates, treasure and a shark - you get the picture. One the bags is definitely a girly bag - big, bright daisies on a bright green background. Inside is a children's tea set. It has not seen the light of day since our "faux" grand-daughters in Arizona had played with it. Well this morning, Casen discovered the girly bag. I thought, "Oh well this might last a couple of minutes." I began to show Casen how to set up the tea set and "serve" tea. I found out that having a tea party with a little boy differs from having one with a little girl.

Difference #1: when setting up for a tea party, boys - unlike girls, do not like setting it up in the traditional manner instead it is much more entertaining to stack the tea cups, saucers, plates, teapot, sugar bowl and flatware until the tower comes tumbling down (reminded me of Jericho's wall - I think I know why little boys love that song and story!). This action demands a break from the tea party to hunt up the tea set - thank goodness the tea set is made of plastic!

Difference #2: when pretending to add sugar to the tea in the cups - little girls daintily stir the imaginary tea with a spoon but little boys apparently stir it so vigorously that the tea cup eventually is spinning (sometimes off of the table!) which brings lots of laughter and more stirring!

Difference #3: instead of pretending to delicately sip from the teacups, boys like to make slurping sounds and end the drink by tossing the cup aside and immediately repeating with a new cup. I'm still not sure why this occurred, Casen has pretty good table manners and doesn't toss dishes from the dinner table. Maybe he thought since it was pretend it may as well be fun?

My tea party with Casen may have been different from the tea party than I had dreamed of but I wouldn't trade it for anything! I love my Boy!