small treasures
Dec. 10th, 2003 08:29 pmMy folks are in town, and I have been working from home this week. I was hoping to work less, but it hasn't quite happened that way, and this morning I had to actually haul over to the local caffeination station to meet with some folks. On the plus side, they came out to my neck of the woods. But that's not what I'm here to talk about.
When I came home, everybody was out; they returned, and when I came out into the living room, my mom was holding Calvin on her lap, facing out. He's making that "aaaa-laaa-waaaa-aaaaa" sound babies make when you bounce them on your knee. You know the one. That, and looking around aimlessly, since he is fundamentally distracted by every little thing around him, like dust and air and shadows and prismatic rainbows and kaleidoscopic rugs and flame-people paintings and well, this is my house we are talking about here, after all. It's distraction central, all ages welcome, 5 rooms, no waiting.
Then he sees me and breaks into this huge wide-mouthed smile, so I scoop him up and stand him on my thighs facing me. I drop him backwards so he is sitting on my knees, then pop him back up to a wobbly standing position, while muttering something simple like "1,2,3, down, 1,2,3, up!" The first time I bring him back up to a standing position, his eyes go super wide, his smile gets even bigger, and he's laughing. A high peal, a sweet, ringing, almost-out-of-breath kind of laugh, and we're both mesmerized, entranced, joyous. So I do the same motion again, and he laughs even larger. And again. And again.
This went on for DAYS.
Ok, it was probably closer to 15 minutes, but still, he has never laughed like that in his life. and for the life of me, I can't remember the last time I felt so...so much of that particular This-ness. So completely There. So very very exquisitely NOW.
When I came home, everybody was out; they returned, and when I came out into the living room, my mom was holding Calvin on her lap, facing out. He's making that "aaaa-laaa-waaaa-aaaaa" sound babies make when you bounce them on your knee. You know the one. That, and looking around aimlessly, since he is fundamentally distracted by every little thing around him, like dust and air and shadows and prismatic rainbows and kaleidoscopic rugs and flame-people paintings and well, this is my house we are talking about here, after all. It's distraction central, all ages welcome, 5 rooms, no waiting.
Then he sees me and breaks into this huge wide-mouthed smile, so I scoop him up and stand him on my thighs facing me. I drop him backwards so he is sitting on my knees, then pop him back up to a wobbly standing position, while muttering something simple like "1,2,3, down, 1,2,3, up!" The first time I bring him back up to a standing position, his eyes go super wide, his smile gets even bigger, and he's laughing. A high peal, a sweet, ringing, almost-out-of-breath kind of laugh, and we're both mesmerized, entranced, joyous. So I do the same motion again, and he laughs even larger. And again. And again.
This went on for DAYS.
Ok, it was probably closer to 15 minutes, but still, he has never laughed like that in his life. and for the life of me, I can't remember the last time I felt so...so much of that particular This-ness. So completely There. So very very exquisitely NOW.