Today, Lij and I were playing with his train set. He loves trains. He loves them so much he allows me to read “The Little Engine That Could” slowly and with emphasis. When his train set comes out, he’s in heaven.
He was choo-chooing the cars around the track and yelling “baaa (stop)” at the top of his lungs every time they passed by the stop sign. Apparently the train didn’t hear once – as it failed to “baaa” – and Lij was forced to chase after the train with the stop sign. During the pursuit, the train passed through the tunnel in the little bridge. The stop sign was close on its heals. Unfortunately the stop sign is about three times the size of any of the train cars and simply wouldn’t fit through. I expected this to cause a substantial amount of stress for Lij and prepared myself for the screaming. I was pleasantly surprised.
Instead of becoming upset, Lij merely hoisted the bridge (drawbridge-style), the stop sign walked under it and he replaced the bridge again. He played happily for another half hour or so with the train passing through the bridge’s tunnel and his larger toys “walking” under the hoisted bridge.
I am such a grown-up. The first time I saw this, instead of rejoicing at a temper tantrum averted, I almost told Lij that’s not how things work. But who am I to say that? Why can’t the solution to something in our way be as simple as working out a means to pass by it? Or in this case, under it.
Too often, I stand in front of such bridges and lament that the tunnel is too small for me to pass through. If only I’d thought to lift up the bridge and walk under!
I wish I could live even a day in a world where things are that simple. Or maybe I should just take a little more time to play in my son’s world. It seems like a pretty nice place.
Note: I hope you enjoyed this my 50th post!
4 comments:
I watch my 3 year old often and think, how great life must be for him. So sweet and innocent. Reminds me how to love and whats important. I loved when you said you thought you would "yell less, cry more and hug often" not a bad thing to aim for.
What a great post! How wise you are to watch your son at play and learn life's great lessons in the process. I've been trying to learn from my kids for years (not just to teach them)and as has brought so much more joy into the journey for us all.
I'm convinced that children have eyes "not yet blinded" by the wisdom of men if you know what I mean. Often they take the problems of our lives and make them so simple... I'm going to find a 3 year old right now! (Even if I have to rent one....how's that for a great "home business" idea....)
What a great post. I will work on lifting the bridge instead of screaming because I can't get through.
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