Today I babysat our friend's 16 month old son while Zion was at preschool (it was his mama's turn to be class parent today). He and Liel played pretty well together/near each other, and he's a sweet kid- kept bringing her Fluffy every time he noticed Fluffy lying somewhere by himself.
Then Liel asked to draw, so I sat them down at the table with paper and crayons. And the boy? Kept trying to eat the crayons. And kept trying. And trying. He managed to bite the tip off of one of them, and a very sour expression came across his little face. He spit out the offending bit of crayon and handed it to me. Ah, parenthood. You know, there seems to be a lot of commentary about how becoming a parent hardens you to all manner of grossness from your children, but I haven't seen much about parenthood enabling the gracious acceptance of spit-drenched ends of crayons from other people's progeny. Yet there I was! Interestingly, the undeliciousness of the black crayon did not deter the boy from trying to eat every other color of crayon. He'd pick up a new one, give me a shifty-eyed, sideways look to see if I was watching, and pop the new crayon into his mouth. I'd remind him that crayons are not for eating, and he'd remove it, pick up a new crayon, and we'd start again.
It's incredible how fast kids change when they are little. He's only 6 months younger than Liel, and it seems like her crayon (and marker. sigh.) eating days were just last week. I'm so used to seeing her as the baby, and here she was today, the big girl who didn't even try to sneak one crayon into her mouth. Next thing I know she'll be putting on her own clothes, planting her own garden and baking her own pies, right?
But it all started with the crayons.
2 comments:
it is such a sad reality to see them getting big. i feel that way often. wait until they make their own breakfast, feed themselves, put the dishes in the dishwasher, get dressed and go play all before you wake up and realize they are out back riding bikes and perfectly happy without you...........
Well, for me I loved every part of Jovi and Kenny growing up and changing. Babies per se, were not something I felt more drawn to than other stages. That said, if I picked a stage I would love to revisit it would be as children, say ages 3- 12. Ah, I loved the whole thing!!
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