Little Surprises

Life with children is a life full of surprise. Good surprises (like the boys actually playing well together), not-so-good surprises (ok, what spilled or broke this time)... they all qualify, and are all important in their own way. Yesterday, each of my children blessed me with good surprises.

We awoke on Saturday morning in the usual way... Ryan with his face about 3 inches away from mine, waiting patiently for me to open my eyes. When I do open my eyes, I'm always treated to a fresh smile, ready to explore what the day has to offer. I LOVE waking up like that. On occasion, if we aren't getting out of bed as quickly as he'd like, he'll go off and play in his room. This was one of those days. As we lay there, trying desperately to deny the fact that it was, indeed morning, a cheerful voice began to sing "Clean-up, clean-up. Everybody, everywhere. Clean-up, Clean-up. Everybody do your share". Ryan only sings this song when he is cleaning or picking up his toys... but I'd never heard the song unprompted before. Ryan cheerfully completed what he was doing and came into our room and reported to us that he was done playing with his pretend food, and cleaned it up. We praised him for such a great choice, and I then asked "Did you clean up the rest of your toys as well?". He swiftly replied "No, but I should go do that!" as he bounced off to his room. What a way to wake up on a Saturday!

That same night, I had taken the kids upstairs to get ready for bed. They came down to say "goodnight" to daddy. Evan had already given his hugs and was waiting for Ryan to finish. I could see Evan looking around the room with a mischievous eye. I quickly redirected him, not really thinking it would work, by saying "Evan, Lets go upstairs.... time to go night-night." To my surprise, Evan headed directly for the stairs and began climbing. At the top, he briefly started to head towards Ryan's room... I gave him a quick reminder "Evan, time to go night-night". He changed course, went into his room, climbed into his E-Dome (this sleeping arrangement is explained in a previous blog entry "Evan Antics") and tried to close it. I wanted to pinch myself... certainly this was not really happening! Could I be so fortunate as to be surprised twice in one day?? But it was just that. As I left his room, Evan didn't protest once.

My children continue to amaze me each and every day. I am blessed!