We are a completely boy house in all it's stereotypes. We don't own a single baby doll. We like trucks, dinosaurs, weapons and potty talk (well "we" is a loose term). And girls and kissing are disgusting. Like, the worst of all offenses.

Well, times are a-changing, and it seems as if we have turned a corner in our home. I should have seen the signs that it was happening when Jackson started treating his cousin like this at Disneyland this past Christmas.

But I wasn't totally prepared for it for at least another couple hundred years.

But one morning at the bus stop, Jackson revealed to me he had a girlfriend.

On the outside I was cool "hmm a girlfirend huh? What does it mean to have a girlfriend? What do you like about her? She must be pretty special!"

But the inside me was having a panic attack, "aaaaahhhhh what the heck? You are seven years old, and a BOY! There is no way on earth this is going to happen!"

Luckily I kept panicky mom under wraps. Jackson explained that he knew he couldn't have a real girlfriend, but that Lily was just a girl that was also a friend. More like a girl buddy. Panicky mom liked that answer.

But it was clear that Jackson thought of this "Lily" as more than a girl buddy. One night he stayed up for a few hours after bedtime crafting the perfect gift for Lily. Included was a pink pencil sharpener, a fruit roll up, a pixie stick, a valentines notebook and a heart shaped eraser, all wrapped in red and white duct tape. Clearly the items close to a seven year-old's heart.

The next morning Greg reminded him about his gift. I shot Greg the glance that said "please do not encourage this." He whispered "but he worked so hard on it!"

Well things began to escalate and panicky freak out mom was losing out to calm and collected mom. This was when the note writing began. I caught wind that this was occurring as Jackson kept running upstairs to ask how to spell "beautiful, seriously, and actually" in a very covert kind of way. Here is a picture of the first note to Lily:

It says the following:

Lily Lovers

Love Jackson
To Lily
2nt Note

I love Lily because she looks beautiful. I want to kiss Lily on the lips. I also want to marry you to. Actually, seriously, you do look beautiful. I love you lily so much. Lets kiss on the playground in  a hideing spot so nobody sees. Like Jacob, Jaydin, Ben, Cooper, Luke, like those people. Can you send me a note please, but a love note? Can you come to my house?

My address
My telephone number.

Call me.

Panicky mom had to intervene.

So I sat him down and explained that it was perfectly alright to write notes telling girls that they are pretty or nice, because any girl would like to read something like that. "But," I said, "imagine if Lily's mom read this. How would you feel?"
"Lily's mom is NOT going to read this" he responded.
"It's not about whether her mom reads it or she doesn't, but you may only write things to girls that you would be okay with her mom reading."

Thank goodness for a logical child. One point for mom.

So the next night he drafted note number two. It was much longer, but (after a few edits) also MUCH tamer.