“Sit on your bottom and eat your chair!”
Yes. I did say that to my toddler the other day. Sadly, he’s not old enough to laugh at my verbal mishap.
Parenting little kids is one of the goofiest jobs ever. Where else do you get to spend your day counting “One, two, three… JUMP!” while going downstairs to do laundry, or gleefully waving and saying, “Bye, poop!” to the pebble-sized (but sometimes not-so-pebble-sized) turd they are flushing down the toilet?
It’s a special job, that’s for sure.
Last week the Little Man and I began our “Morning Toast” routine. We sit at the table like big people, Mommy prays and then he prays (sometimes he prays again…and again…amen!), and we sit and eat our toast.
Mommy’s phone is put away during Morning Toast.
He drinks milk and I get to enjoy most of my coffee while it is still warm. There are usually some lion impersonations, too, because apparently it is never too early to roar at the top of your lungs. At least he’s a cute lion…
The other day he wanted me to ride one of his trucks with him. He has two different trucks that he sits on and wheels himself around the house in, and he wanted me to join him.
(I quickly discovered that one truck had a bigger seat, and switched to that one.)
I used to laugh watching him flop his little legs around while he fishtailed down the hallway… but you know, that’s the only way you can drive those things! Yikes. It’s a workout.
Needless to say, Mommy doesn’t ride trucks with him every day.
But I think it’s these silly things, the perhaps seemingly unimportant things, that make such an impact in their little lives. It’s teaching them that they are lovable and wanted. It’s showing friendship and camaraderie. It’s instilling the foundation for trust–and that will pay off tremendously in the future.
So yeah, I’d say it’s a pretty important job.
(And don’t forget those snuggles…)
jess leigh hanna 