Moments to Savor

It was a mini-milestone for our 20 month-old son. Spurred by envy, he actively pursued time sitting in my lap. I had just started to read to his six year-old sister, and as we got into the meat of "a million cats," the little boy pushed his way past Big Sister and crawled into place, a little board book in hand. I asked if Big Sis would mind me taking a moment to attend to him, knowing that his attention span would be only a minute or two, and she quickly agreed. Bless her!

Sure enough, his interest waned rather quickly, and he slid down onto the floor. Time to tear into the tinker toys. The crate has a bunch of 'em, and he is usually content scattering them across the room. So, Sis and I picked up the story about cats, right where we left off. After a minute, though, we were again interrupted. Lil' bro was communicating, albeit using nonverbals. It became clear that he now wanted me to help him put some of the tinker toys together. Pushing the limits of a six year-old's understanding and patience, I asked her to once more consider waiting to finish the dramatic story of a million, a billion, a trillion cats for a moment or two. "Okay!" A quick reply, and I could only thank the Lord for her willingness to delay gratification in favor of her brother's interests.

I sat on the floor and helped the boy put some straight purple and blue sticks onto the blue, orange, yellow and green circles. Some of the circular connectors were split in half, testament to heavy use by the children. One of the circles had a string tied to it, so I fashioned a little mobile by putting some other pieces onto it. I spun it around, and little eyes lit up. He liked that, and took a turn making it twirl in the air.

As he moved onto some other interest, as a toddler is wont to do, I turned back to the cats. Ah, as she waited for me, Big Sis had played with the tinker toys. She made a couple of faucets, and demonstrated to me how they worked. Complete with sound effects. I smiled, grateful for her creativity. Thankful for her patience and love for that little boy. And, despite my personal dislike of the creatures, happy to read about cats to my darling daughter. And oh-so-glad for the time with a toddler. Cannot replace those memories. A couple of moments to savor. Thanks, Lord.