Where does the imagination sprout from? Sitting here quietly to recover from the hectic crazy noisy morning, I’m observing again. Tre has gone out in the yard to play while Papa does a bit of yard work. Dija is just hanging out here with me. Divide and conquer is my favorite method. They can be sooo noisy! So as I’m ignoring her and letting her do her thing I’m amazed again at what she knows and how she plays. How does she know to play with the baby doll and use her soft voice and take care of little “Barney” and lay him down for a nap? Is she imitating us? Why isn’t she crawling around smashing cars and trucks into walls? Oh wait a minute…doesn’t Barney teach children to “Just Imagine” in his show? I’m pretty sure Dija has never watched Barney on TV though so I’m perplexed.

As for her playing with Barney…yes the purple dinosaur character. She’s pretending he’s a baby and is taking him to Papa and Neenee’s bed for naps. She’s giving him a baby bottle and treating him ever so lovingly. Well this poor guy has had a rough life and perhaps she senses this. Barney was one of Caitlyn’s favorite toys. Caitlyn wore holes in his neck from carrying him around and wiggling his head to make him talk. So when he was looking really bad there were numberous kind and generous people who donated Barneys to Caitlyn. She pretty much rejected them all because it wasn’t the real Barney. He had to go through the lauandry frequently because he was just disgusting. Finally it happened…his head fell off. Nana is pretty handy with the sewing needles so she set to work and patched him up with brilliant patches that didn’t quite match. Caitlyn thought it odd at first but knew this was still the real Barney. Then the patches wore out… back for more reconstructive surgery by Nana. Eventually there just wasn’t enough head to stitch back on so we had to do the unthinkinable. No we didn’t toss him! We did a head transplant. Nana used a similar Barney and chopped off the healthy head and stitched the old Barney body and the new Barney head together. It’s the funniest looking critter in the house. Caitlyn still plays with him when she visits. Dija aparently thinks he’s great too… he’s kind of special…Caitlyn told her so!

I’m not talking about the day we all eat our faces off and then wonder why we ate so much that we can’t be thankful anymore…. I’m talking about “giving thanks.”
I know that when our kids were little we did teach them manners and I believe some of it stuck. What amazes me is the way Tre and Dija give thanks… and I can’t really take credit for it. It’s not just having good manners that I see (because there are a few they still need work with) but the attitude of gratefulness that is so obvious in both of them. Many adults could learn from them. They aren’t just saying the magic words but they actually express a feeling of gratitude.
The children will say thank you for the simplest of things. It’s great when they know to say thanks for “stuff” but when they offer thanks for little acts it can bring a tear to your eye. A simple “Thanks you Neenee” when I help him pull up his undies or a “Thanks you Papa” when he helps him zipper his coat…nothing short of precious. We would do these things without being thanked and I’m certain that many parents do! These kids can make me melt when they show appreciation for such simple gestures. I hope they never lose this.
Today I took Dija on a little delivery to express some of this gratitude. I told her the story of why we appreciated these people and what they did for us and how they help a lot of people. So Dija, we’re going to go say thanks. She was ready to participate. We went and she did her part of carrying the note and saying thank you… “Tank you Doctor”… She was full of sweetness and even a little shy. I feel that it’s so important to nurture this in the kids continually because it will help guard against the self centeredness that is so evident in our society. If this can help a little we’ve already won a battle!
We’re careful to thank them for the little things they do. When they listen the first time, if they put toys away unprompted, when they eat dinner with nothing flying off the table… things we could so easily ignore. All reminders to focus on the moment and be grateful. It just feels better than fretting about the next thing on the agenda.
(and thank you Jeff for reminding me to post an entry today!)