I had to make a trip to the store yesterday with Huck in tow...just needed 1 thing so I figured we could run in and out and be back home within a half hour. Well, it went mostly as planned, but the first store we stopped at didn't carry overnight diapers, but did indeed carry bouncy balls. When Huck saw the cage of balls at the store his eyes lit up. He has been absolutely obsessed with any sort of ball lately and has so much fun playing "catch" or kicking them even if it's just to himself. And there happened to be a ball with airplanes on it, which was recently a 2 week obsession that has seemed to taper a bit, so I thought it was a must. While waiting in the check out line for this 1 ball, Huck was on cloud 9 carrying around, rolling and tossing his ball (luckily the store was small, and we were the only customers in there except the gentleman in front of us). And it really didn't bother me that we had to wait for quite some time because it was so much fun to just watch him discover what he could do with this ball he was getting.
After our trip to the next store, we indeed left town and headed back home with overnight diapers and 2 bouncy balls...yep 2. I guess I'm a sucker for a toddler who gets so excited about seeing a cage of balls that he can hardly stop laughing and almost crawls into the ball cage to get one. Our trip home began with Huck holding one of the balls and throwing it up in the air to himself. It would occasionally land on his head and rest against the top of his car seat in which case he couldn't reach it so would get frustrated, and I would tap it so it fell down in his lap again. But that lasted about 1 mile. He was playing so boisterously with the ball that he tossed it to the other side of the backseat and to the floor. Thus ended the joy of having a ball, and the beginning of the frustration and sadness of not having a ball to hold on the way home. And since I was driving and the only other person in the car, I wasn't going to be able to get him the ball unless I stopped the car. We only live 10 minutes from the store, so I wasn't going to do that, unfortunately. So the laughter turned to periodic crying the rest of the trip home.
The whole evening was spent playing with his new yellow ball and airplane ball, and by bedtime he marched right into his room with his airplane ball ready to get into his crib. It took a lot of coercing and some prying to release the ball from his grasp and turn his attention to books.
This little afternoon adventure was such a reminder of the pure joy that the little things in life can bring. Where is that wonder that I'm sure each of us once had? It so often gets stuffed down and forgotten as we conform to society and encounter stressful situations and life in general. Imagine what the world would be like if we all took a step back and paused to simply be more mindful of how we approach life--without expectations, praise or blame. To just observe what is going on and accept it for what it is. I know this is something I personally work on and need to be reminded of it more often. And maybe that's just what my son is doing for me each day with these little reminders to laugh and have fun.
