Nicky enjoys playing with water. Every time I put water in the pool Nicky loves to play with the hose pipe: lifting it up and down and watching the water. The other afternoon I showed him how to spray the water and he was in seventh heaven. “Spray – a – water!” he giggled as he sprayed it all over. Not much was deposited in the pool but he was having a ball.
It got me thinking about all the precious moments I share with Nicky and how blessed I am to have this little guy in my life. For so many years I didn’t even believe it would be possible to have a child, and now he is showing me more and more of the wonder of life. Yes, we do have our bad moments too, but I’d like to take this post to celebrate the joyful ones.
Nicky finds joy every day playing with his cars and trains. He lines them up. He connects them. He builds towers. His latest thing is to put all the people in the hospital in his train set (balancing them on top of each other), then after announcing that they are “Better!” they come out. He finds joy in discovering a toy that has been lost for a while.
He loves dirt. He insisted on wearing boots this morning because then the soil wouldn’t get into his shoes and he could have a good kick. He then went outside to try them out. He has spent many hours just scooping and rolling in dirt. He likes the sandpit too. The other day he wanted to make a sandcastle so we put some water in the sandpit. He was full of wet sand after that!
Another fun thing for him is the sensation of rubbing against his head or ears. He will giggle like anything while rubbing any object around his head.
Nicky gets excited about certain foods too. He enjoys noodles. He loves chocolate. In fact part of the fun of chocolate is to get as much on his face and hands as possible.
Jumping on the trampoline is still a big joy for us. Nicky not only jumps, but he rolls and kicks balls from there as well. Another game he likes is for me to hang onto him and be a “troublesome truck” while he is Thomas the Tank Engine.
I was thinking that the real joy here is that we are creating a time where he can be in control. So much of his life (when to bath, eat and sleep etc) is beyond his control, but in play he is asserting his own will, and in particular letting me follow his lead on a play space like the trampoline is a good exchange of power for him.
The other thing making me happy is the wealth of bloggers we have around and all the ideas we can share with each other. Melanie recently started homeschooling and she posted a counting exercise about how many rockets are flying to the moon. I knew Nicky would love this, so I gave it a try. Of course he is so enthusiastic about those rockets he just wanted to put all of them on the page, but we will keep working on it. At his age the one to one correspondence is also not great, so I normally point or count with him. But I think it’s a fun activity.
He can now count to ten, so I’m happy about that. The other day while eating his sandwich he told me that the remaining bread, which was eaten up to the point that there were only two sides left, was a seven. I think it’s so awesome that he related the shape of the numeral to the food he was eating.
Often, especially when we are nearing the end of the day and tiredness and tantrums are taking over, it’s easy to forget these special moments of joy. I often have to call in my husband to help me remember, to distract him with toys, and to get us back on track again. Because kids are actually very simple beings. They like to be safe and have fun. The more I work on remembering and focusing on the joy, within a safe routine that has boundaries, the better I know we will be.
The kids do make us realise how we can just be happy and stop stressing.
Aw I love this! Outside just is more fun for kids than indoors, isn’t it! Be it water, sand, trampoline – my two girls also much prefer that to indoor things.
Hehe, I also get excited about food – specifically chocolate too!
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Love this. Enjoy it- this stage passes way too quickly!
Lovely post Heather! And you know, it’s so true. They need to sometimes have space to move around in, make their own choices. But know their boundaries
To be young and carefree… I wish I could trade places with him. Lovely post 🙂
thanks Celeste!