Back to my thankful spirited son. We have noticed that he is such a thankful boy expressed by kisses and delight in his eyes. Whenever he gets something that he likes or is enjoying something immensely he can't contain himself and has to stop and kiss Sam or me. It really is one of the sweetest things ever. This morning though I had to stop and just take in my son's thankful heart.
We have an advent calendar and each morning after we wake daddy up we go get the "treat." I thought a mini marshmallow would be fun because he just had those for the first time a few weeks ago and it isn't too over the top. I mean, really, it is pure sugar but it's little, right? Sam being the more wise and practical parent said that might be a bit much for our one year old. So we compromise, what great marriages are made of I hear, which to me is just code for I don't get my way. For the sake of not wanting to ruin the advent calendar moment I compromise. Puffs most mornings with maybe a raisin or two some days and a marshmallow every few days. Brilliant. And no one cried or threw a fit. Double Brilliant.
This morning happened to be a marshmallow morning. Now let me stop and say that Max gets excited EVERY morning. He is thrilled with two puffs, even when he has eaten them the whole morning waiting for daddy to get up. We still get a kiss and those delighted and excited eyes. This morning as we got the treat which he patiently waited for after running into the living room waiting for us to catch up, he said please (a little baby sign language that is too cute to watch him do) and then we took off todays number and Voila - a marshmallow!
He was so thankful that he didn't even grab it but just kept kissing Sam and making happy, delighted sounds. Then he proceeded to look at us with such thankful eyes and then gave me kisses. He was so happy and couldn't stop thanking us. Finally we had to take the marshmallow out and give it to him, to which he replied with a big kiss for daddy while he held it before he even put it in his mouth.
I have all these things I want to "teach" Max. I feel like I have a storehouse of attitudes and information that I want to pour on him. Poor kid, having an older mom just means that she has more years of stuff to heap on him as he grows up. But I am haunted by the fact that "kids catch more than you actually teach them." Dang Dr. Dobson. (For those not familiar, every Christian parent listened to him then tortured or taught their kid about having a good attitude and then it seemingly made parents feel guilty when their kids didn't have one) I live in this tension of who I am not and think oh great Max is going to miss all these great lessons because I can't pull my crap together. Then I relax and realize I can't control this little turkey. On my best day I can barely control me. I get to walk along side this little being and learn from him and him from me. Again, before you judge and comment, I know this is a journey and a process, sometimes it's just fun to notice it, embrace it, laugh at it, share it, and be okay with where life is at the moment.
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