Simple Things

One of the greatest things about spending time with a toddler, is that they teach you to notice the world around you. There are so many things that we pass by everyday, and never even notice. Everytime we walk, we walk with a purpose. We're so focused on "getting there" and "getting it done" that we do not take the time to enjoy the process of doing. However, to a toddler, the walk to a grocery store is an adventure. Running out to get the mail is a chance to discover something new. Why hurry up and run to the playground when there is so much along the way to look at. Take a walk with a two year old and you'll see what I'm talking about. A flower, an interesting rock, ants, a cool leaf, a yucky looking pine cone, a plane flying overhead, a pretty butterfly, birds flying across the sky, all are things CamCam teaches me to notice and appreciate.

Just today, he showed me the joy in yet another thing I've failed to notice in a long time. Shadows. He was up in his room "napping" and I went to check on him. The door was open, and he didn't hear me coming. He was facing the wall, and looking at his shadow on the wall. He moved to the side, and his shadow followed and disapeared on the bend in the wall. He tilted his head to the left, looking for his shadow. He leaned back to the right and saw it reappear. He did this 4 more times, leaning to the left and looking for his shadow, back to the right and here it is again. He put his hand in the middle of it and moved, trying to hold his shadow in place. Then he reached out to the edge of the shadow, up high where the edge of his head was, and started to dig at it with his fingers. He was trying to peel it off the wall. I smiled as I realized that at this very moment, he was learning so much. He was figuring out what this "thing" on his wall was. He was discovering 2 dimentional and how it differs from 3 dimentional. What a wonderful moment to witness. I take for granted these gifts we've been given, assume that there is nothing new around me to discover. It took my 2 year old son to teach me to open my eyes and to start and appreciate the simple things around me.