Do you ever get that "deja vu all over again" feeling? Do you think I've been here or seen this before.
Easter Sunday as I sat at the dining room table looking at my angelic brood, I was struck by how calm the 11 year-old (*C*) was sitting and eating his dinner next to the 3 year-old (*I*) who had exhibited the devastating effects of sugar and artificial coloring and how one can go from manic to asleep in the blink of an eye during church that morning.
I remembered that the currently calm, though sometimes still impulsive 11 year-old used to be just like the 3 year-old. I could see it like I was looking at time-lapse photography, if I ignored the fact that *C* never had the blond locks *I* is sporting.
I could see the phase for what it was. I know that as frustrating (and embarrassing) as the 3 year-old can be, he will eventually grow out of it. He will. I hope. I pray. I think. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
This too shall pass. I am holding onto that glimmer of hope as I try to reign him in without stifling his spirit...too much. ;) You'd think, sometimes, that the child has never been given rules. You'd never know this boy who can be like the Looney Tunes' Tasmanian Devil, is also the boy who will sit and read books with me for an hour or sit and play games like "Memory" which require focus and patience, and that he usually wins fair and square because he does focus and he remembers where all of the cards are unlike me who tried to remember the criteria for Dementia (key word tried)because of my lack of short-term memory. :O
All this to say, you never can tell from an hour or two with a child what they're like the rest of the time. Don't assume from what you observe that you know how things roll in their home. Snapshots don't tell the whole story. Just like my Easter dinner with the angelic brood wasn't an accurate portrayal of the day. All this to say you never can tell whether that wild child will some day sit watching birds and keeping track of which species he's spotted. You do realize how quiet and still you need to be to watch birds, right?
-Peace
The age difference between your oldest and your youngest (one who is looking at colleges and the other can't even pronounce the word yet) puts you and I in a unique category. Even more so considering the oldest is male and the youngest is female. They are both being raised in the same household by the same parents.
ReplyDeleteAs similar as each of them are (not forgetting the gender difference at all) they are different as peaches and pine cones. Two different people two different personalities. You have more little people with which to observe this, I only have the two. I marvel in their similarities and I wonder how the younger will be at fifteen twenty or even 24 (the age of the oldest). I try to not compare her to him or him to her. They are both my gifts and I pray to God every day that I have appreciated His gifts. Still, there are moments when I laugh..because they are so very much alike.