Matthew climbs up onto Bob’s lap in the dinning room chair beside mine and starts eating the olives I had set aside from my Greek salad.
“He likes olives,” I observe as Matthew finishes about eight olives in less than eight seconds. Then Matthew opens his mouth and the chewed olives fall out of his mouth and onto their laps.
“He doesn’t like olives,” I state the obvious. Bob looks at the dinning room chair covered in olives and sighs that that having kids is hard work. Wait until the day Matt runs into the house with muddy boots for the first time, look forward to the blog that will be named “Bob’s Trip To The Cardiologist.”
Spit up olives aside, Bob isn’t the only one who thinks this parenting business is hard work. I read the parent magazine and books but what they fail to mention is that sometimes it is such hard work to play with your child. Matthew has this jungle toy that spins three balls. It's his favorite toy and only if two balls are spinning on opposite sides of each other and the third ball is completely out of his sight.
“You know him so well,” Bob marvels after I explain the rules of the jungle toy to him after proclaiming that Matthew hates it.
It’s all trial and error. I once thought he liked olives.
You do now him better than I do! I don't notice these little things!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. I keep having the feeling that I'm letting my youngest daughter down because I *can't* spend every moment entertaining her like I did with my first.
ReplyDeleteBut, some days, like yesterday, I just put my other jobs aside and we do what she wants to do.
Her grandfather came over in the morning while we were painting watercolors at an easel out on the porch (I paint paper, she paints herself), and mentioned that we'll be getting frost on Sunday -- hard frost.
So, my daughter and I went through the garden picking absolutely everything. We came in with armloads of tomatoes, peppers the size of your thumbnail, and loads and loads of wildflowers. We put them in vases as a surprise for the boys when they came home (the flowers, not the vegetables.)
It was one of those rare days when parenting was *not* hard work. :)
Have a fun weekend, Laurie!
- Julia
You are very observant as a parent and as Matty grows there will be more adventures which will always be in your heart. I still think of the lettuce leaf for hats picnic, princess socks, the ninja turtle stories (all 102 of them), birthday parties and much more. ding dang dong dingy dingy dangy dong!
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