Floor Chats

Last night we were getting Jacky ready for bed. He had taken a very long bath, with glow sticks. I got him lotioned, diapered, and jammied up. Jason was supposed to take him to brush his teeth. My back was killing me. He is about 31 lbs and over 3 feet tall. I carry him a lot. He loves me to carry him. Plus all of our stuff. I carry a lot of weight every day. My back and arms were just sore. Sore like a really tough workout sore. I laid down on his floor on my back, sprawled out. My head on his bunched up towel as a pillow. He refused to go in the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Instead he came and laid down on the floor with me. Put his head on my makeshift pillow and said “hi mommy” We tried to get him to get up and brush his teeth, but he just wanted to hang out. Eventually Jason left to get some things ready for work tomorrow. Jack and I laid there. I rested and we chatted. He told me all about the stars throughout his room. He talked about his day and what we did. He talked about his glow stick bath and his glow sticks. He still had them. He didn’t want to bathe. But he was getting stinky and was really dirty. I told him I had a surprise bath for him. It was the glow sticks. He kept telling me about his “A-prize bath.” I worked on teaching him the next line of twinkle twinkle little star. He has been saying twinkle twinkle for some time. I got him to also say little star. He didn’t get up once. Which, it is rare for him to sit still for so long. It was rather lovely. I watched his face a lot. I was soaking in his expressions. His little face was so sweet and cute. His cheeks so chubby. He is so animated. He is so 2.

Eventually Jason came back trying to round us up to get ready for bed. He was tired and wanted to go to sleep too! I convinced him that Jack and I were having a lovely chat. He joined us and quickly realized how nice this moment was. Jack told him all about his day. And went over everything we had gone over, including twinkle twinkle.

Jacky at his 2nd birthday party on Sunday

It was a truly wonderful little family moment. We were probably there for 20-30 minutes. I am not sure. I wasn’t watching time. I didn’t even have my phone on me. We were hard pressed to convince him to get up and brush his teeth. Not because he doesn’t like brushing his teeth, he loves it actually, but because he just wanted to hang out how we were. I finally had to bribe him with reading a story after he brushed his teeth. I cannot complain that my kid loves to be read to!

Sometimes life is so hectic. You are running to and from a million activities and responsibilities. You are cleaning and cleaning and cleaning, because kids can be more messy than an adult hoarder. There is never ending laundry! But sometimes  taking a moment like last night to just lay on the floor and have a quiet moment together is what you need. You can learn the most in those moments.