Wait... What?

What is with boys and their fascination with death? Almost every day I hear one of the big kids (that's what I call the three oldest) say something like "I'm gonna shoot you and you'll be dead!" or "Look at this gun I just built!" At 14 months, Channing would carry a pretend gun around the house saying "Phew, phew". Now, as I'm sitting here, going through my email, I hear Carter through the open window, telling his brothers "Pretend there is a girl named Hannah and she died and we are all sad." Wait... WHAT? Did I just hear him correctly?

I remember when Carter was about two, an older lady told me that I shouldn't let him play with pretend guns. Her reasoning was because "he would grow up and be violent". I looked at her with a serious face and said "Well, we might as well live in a box. Even then, the box would become some sort of weapon. I don't think she was too pleased with that remark. No lie, EVERY.LITTLE.THING is a weapon. Carter makes these huge gun looking things of legos and always has some crazy name for them. Jaxon will take a pretend phone and shoot up the house. Even little figurines are guns. Go figure.

The one thing that my husband and I agree on is telling the kids they have to point whatever object they are using as a weapon towards the wall, ground, or pictures. Not people. They think it's hilarious to shoot the ceiling with the Nerf darts and my ceiling is usually full of them. Sometimes though all hell breaks loose and they start an all out war with each other. Someone always ends up crying and everyone usually ends up in their room. I used to beg the fertility gods for a girl, but now I've come to the realization that even if I had one, she'd be right in on the action.