The other night we had a terrible storm, the kind
that wakes you up because it is so incredibly loud. The kind where you get less
sleep and pre children you would have taken a nap.
That’s where I was at Sunday.
I wanted to rest.
I wanted to lay on the couch and watch the new
episode of The Pioneer Woman Cooks that was recorded on Sling.
As any parent searching for a second of alone
time, I quietly crawled into the recliner, turned on my TV, and crossed my
fingers that the Play-Doh on the little kid table in the kitchen would
entertain for a mere 30 minutes of cooking show quietness.
It didn’t.
My child who normally plays alone wanted my
attention… which he normally doesn’t. Daddy is the prime time parents these
day, but somehow I was taking center stage this out of the ordinary Sunday and
getting lots of love and affection.
As I was just getting into the part of the episode
about cauliflower crust pizza I heard a little boy voice saying, “Te-Te, Te-Te
come.”
“Te-Te let’s go.”
I assumed I was being beckoned for my usual
purpose in life, serving food to people in this house. To my surprise it wasn’t
that.
He didn’t want a snack.
That chubby little boy grabbed me by the hand and
took me to his tiny Ikea table to play with his Play-Doh with him.
I won’t lie to you, at first I was disappointed. I
wanted to park my potato butt in the recliner and watch TV. My beloved TV I see
so little of these days, because when it’s on it isn’t a show I care about.
A few minutes into this squishy dough time it
occurred to me that this won’t happen for long, and it won’t happen often. I
should just sit there and take advantage of it.
As it stands, Harrison doesn’t come to me for this
stuff often, he’s a Daddy’s baby.
But for some reason on this odd day he wanted his
parent who he’s named Te-Te for some unknown reason… that I think I know the
reason for actually.
So this tired mama (Te-Te) sat her rear on the
cold tile floor and played with Play-Doh. She realized she needed to be there
because that chubby child wanted her there.
He wanted to sit with me. He wanted me to make
tons of Play-Doh snakes so he could hiss and play until their tongues fell off
and I had to start all over again.
He just wanted to sit next to his mama, and that’s
something I have to remind myself to take advantage of.
It’s in the small moments mamas.
