One of the many side benefits of parenthood is getting a front row seat in witnessing your children's development. This process continues to amaze me. Once you get past that first flurry of "firsts", however, development becomes more subtle and nuanced. Milestones happen quietly, and you often realize that your kid is now doing something he didn't do before, but you can't pinpoint when he started doing it.
A recent example of these slight shifts in being is Ethan's improved understanding of time. He is very interested in the days of the week (asking every morning "What day is it?"), understands the concept of yesterday and tomorrow, and realizes he sometimes has to wait (or make others wait - I can't tell you how often I hear "Just one minute Mommy"). With this understanding comes the added benefit of being able to both anticipate and reminisce. Anticipation is fun because it gives each event a lot more mileage. We talk about upcoming activities for days beforehand, and I watch those little brown eyes grow huge with excitement and wonder. When we got into the routine of going to the lake many weekends this summer, Ethan would bound out of bed on a Friday morning shouting "I'm ready to go to the lake!!". It made the experience all the more special, for all of us.
Similarly, reminiscing also extends the life of any one activity, because we can talk about it for days (or weeks or months) afterwards. It's always interesting to see which experiences truly have an impact. This week, we're all about mowing the lawn. Although he did a lot of cool stuff over the last week or so, all that Ethan wants to talk about at the moment is how he mowed the lawn, on the tractor, with "a little help from Daddy". He has recounted that story to anyone who will listen, more times than I can possibly count (there are some drawbacks to said development...).
We are all eagerly anticipating Daddy's arrival home tonight after a few nights in DC. I am sure Ethan will have stories to tell him tomorrow - maybe we'll move on from mowing the lawn?
2 comments:
Totally agree on the subtle milestones -- and I feel like they're often recognized in hindsight. Ethan's anticipation of things must be so fun to witness -- I can picture him getting SUPER excited!
What fun - and like Melissa, I can totally see (and love the thought of) Ethan getting really really excited.
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