Slow Down With A Toddler

My default setting when stressed and anxious is to be hurried and harried in all that I do. I practically run through my house putting laundry away, picking up clutter, and clearing away dishes. I can be snippy and snappy and a generally unpleasant taskmaster when I feel the heat and pressure of a demanding schedule. It's no small task to manage a household of six.

But God gives grace. And sometimes Grace shows up in the form of a 30 pound little chunk of love named Will. The Lord uses Will to slow me down and to cause me to make space in my day for the small, unexpected graces that I can easily overlook. Will's pace of living is to walk slowly and take delight in the sounds of birds, the roar of airplanes, the beauty of a leaf...to notice the ants on the sidewalk or the caterpillar finding its way. Even as I was writing this, I had to pause as he took my hand and led me across the home to the kitchen to ask for a small bowl of frozen blueberries. What could have been viewed as an interruption I chose to embrace and to enter into his wonder-filled world.

Tuesday is the day that just Will and I have all alone. I usually obsess as to how I will spend my Tuesdays...do I clean? Do I craft? Do I take Will to do something in the community? Get together with someone? For today, I decided to let Will's pace set our tone...and so we went slow.

I stayed in my lounge pants until 10am. I read blogs and he looked at Autumn books.

I made homemade granola.

We listened to a Music Together CD and played Little People and read books.

He colored and I did a French Manicure on my toes (okay that's happened once in my life).

Even now he is pulling me away and I think it's time for a leisurely stroll around our home...to find some of nature's newest offerings. As I finish this post, it's with my sparkly little boy on my lap clawing me, playing in my hair, and grabbing the mouse!

Toddlers are a messy, beautiful, and unpredictable gift of grace to us over-worked mamas. I seek to enjoy this fleeting season of boundless curiosity and delight in the everyday gifts I seem to take for granted. And if you don't have a toddler, borrow one for a day and be prepared to slow down and look at the world with a fresh sense of wonder.

Here's to two year olds everywhere!