The other day when my husband came home from running errands with our baby, P, I was bummed.
My 3-year-old, O, and I were supposed to have had some special time together, just the two of us while they were gone. That almost never happens. I had been excited about what big kid things we could do together unemcumbered by P. We could read books with ripable pages! We could put together a puzzle! We could do art! But O wasn’t excited about any of my ideas and somehow the time passed without us doing anything at all. This really bummed me out. Then I saw O’s face.
He was smiling. He had been having a great time. He didn’t want to “do” with me, he wanted to “be” with me. Of course! It was so obvious that I missed it. I even missed that that was what I really wanted too. It wasn’t about reading or a puzzle or art. It was about O, and me, and being together.
I wonder when I will stop being surprised at the things I learn from my children.