Smells Like Tween Spirit

Snips and snails,
And puppy dog tails,
That's what little boys are made of...

What does this even mean?  I honestly have no clue.  I also have no clue what makes tween boys tick (I really wish they had let us watch the "boy" movie on adolescence in 5th grade - it may have helped).  The only tween I've known before was my little brother.  Being 7 years older than he, I observed, from a distance, his tween years with curiosity.  Questions came to mind like:  why does he always wear sweatpants with holes in them?  Why is there dirt smeared on his face and he doesn't care?  Shouldn't he shower after his game?  He outgrew this, of course (thank god).   Now, I'm living with a tween 24/7.  This is MY tween.  And I am once again observing him with curiosity - just at a much closer distance.

Since he did get to watch the 5th grade boy movie - pamphlets came home - HUZZAH!  Now I can learn!  And it seems, he actually read/listened particularly well on the topic of personal hygiene.  While I am by no means complaining, this new, heightened sense of aromatic concern has really added to my grocery shopping time.  What used to be a 30 minute shop time has escalated into 1.5 hours.  Why you ask?  This...

This, my friends, is a 1/2 aisle dedicated to men's body wash/shampoo.  Gone are the days of 1 scent of Head & Shoulders.  Now there are 8 different brand names - with 10 different scents.  Scents with names like:  Swagger, Kickstart and Wolfthorn.  What. Are. These. Smells?  Well, just ask my tween...

Oh yes, we smelled every. single. one.  25 minutes of smelling to select the "right" one for the shower.  Head & Shoulders was "lame".  Kickstart smelled "bad".  All of this lead to choosing:

Axe:  Apollo.  Since I associate this name with the movie, I was glad to know it did not smell like what I assumed: rocket fuel, influenza and near death.  At this point, I had reached my limit, as did my olfactory nerves.  $7 for a bottle of this stuff?  Fine.  Shove it in the cart and let's move on.  30 minutes into grocery shopping and this is all I had to show for it:

In the end, 1.5 hours of shopping wasn't bad - we got to bond and laugh over this sensory experience.  And now, every time I hug him I smell his hair, think of that moment and laugh all over again... I love his tween spirit (and smell)!!