I was in the middle of the frantic morning rush this morning, trying to actually respond to some emails and plan out my day when my 4-year-old, Charlie came in and demanded his ukulele. I was listening to some music and he wanted to put on a little rock concert.
He kept asking me to watch him and I kept telling him that I had things to do. After the 3rd attempt he said to me happily,”Mom, just watch me out of the corner of your eye, ok?” and continued with his rock concert.
Those words settled in my cluttered brain and as I nodded and said I could see him out of the corner of my eye it hit me that I couldn’t really see him, and I hadn’t really given him my full attention for days and that I loved him more than ever and that he deserved more than the corner of my eye.
So, with my eyes all welled up with tears I turned to him and said, “Charlie, I want to watch you with my whole eyes.”
He was a little bewildered, which made the concert a little more somber than when I was watching him just out of the corners….but once he realized I was serious about the whole eye thing he got into it and I spent a whole three minutes watching his crazy moves and thinking about how much I love that little guy.
That was the best three minutes of my day.
QUESTION: What are some of your favorite moments with your children?
CHALLENGE: Give one of your children your FULL attention when they ask for it today.
Submitted on 4-19-2010 at 08:57pm
Wonderful commentary Saydi! Somewhere in the midst of raising four children I became very adept and watching out of the corner of my eye, nodding absently, and blandly “uh huhing” my way through what could have been precious moments. Thank you for this great visual reminder of what really matters most in our days.
Submitted on 4-19-2010 at 04:58pm
I LOVE this post. It is just the nudge I needed today! Thanks Saydi!
Submitted on 4-19-2010 at 12:55am
Saydi, I LOVED that moment! There are so many times I only watch dance moves out of the corner of my eye, or only “skim” a story my daughter has written instead of devouring it. It’s hard to be totally present for every single question, but I can definitely set a goal to do that more often. I love the letters with misspelled words I receive every day, the somersaults, the dance parties, the new “recipes,” the cool move with a kick ball…oh, my life sounds so FUN when I write it out this way! Thank you!