Some of the most memorable moments in life I gain from my son. There is joy in understanding, awe in accomplishment and magic in learning. One of my son's books is a whimsical exploration of learning how to dress oneself by Sandra Boynton called Blue Hat, Green Hat. For those of you without children, in the story the animals are learning what the items of clothing are called and where they go. The poor turkey however, can never seem to get the item in the right place. With the examples of the other animals putting the clothes on correctly, it makes my son giggle to see the turkey make mistakes. In fact, while pointing at the pictures he'll "read" the story to me. It is joyous fun for all involved. We had put the book on the bookshelf for a bit of time to read other favorites and hadn't
seen the book in a while when we were getting him dressed the other morning. The shirt and pants went on correctly, but when we came to the socks, we started playing. Did the sock go on his head? No. Did it go on his lovey? No. Did it go on his knee? Nope. Did it go on his hand? He giggled. He grabbed the other sock and pulled it on the other hand. He looked up at me with the mischievous grin on his face and said quite clearly, "Oops!"
It is a wonder when kids do things on their own. I could see the complete knowledge of what he was doing and the absolute joy of understanding something in his upturned face. Moments like these are completely precious and fleeting. As a parent, I know they slip by sometimes so fast that you can hardly breathe. They are the moments you cherish. Some parents put them in memory books. Some parents tell family and friends. Some parents keep the memory in their heart and just treasure it for their own. This moment struck me. I had to take a few moments and write it down. Maybe someone else has moments like these with their children. This is what life is all about. And frankly, it should be.
