Nitty~Gritty

Thursday, April 29, 2004

Yesterday I forgot why I love being a mom but today I remembered. While lying underneath a mesquite tree, I asked him what he loved. I found out he loved the library and me. His love of the library must have come from our weekly visits where we check out books like “Yummy, Yucky” Our favorite page says, “Burgers are yummy.” “Boogers are yucky.” Just outside the library we lay on our backs while I told him what color the sky was and what color the tree was. We flipped onto our bellies and looked at each other but I couldn’t resist tickling him. A branch was nearby which I used as my tickle stick. He pulled up some grass and with wide eyes he told me he broke it. “Mommy, fix it?” I didn’t know how to respond to this one. Being confused about green grass is typical with kids around here. I started reading a novel out loud while he pretended to know what I was talking about. After he became restless for a more appropriate book, I pulled out a Ziploc filled with purple grapes. I ate one and made a loud noise like I was a hungry monster. He decided he wanted to feed the hungry monster so the healthy snack that was intended for his belly fed his soul with laughter instead. After my feeding, he whispered in my ear something about birds. Luckily, my mommy decoder ring was working and I was able to decipher his desires. He wanted to get up and chase the birds. We ran as fast as we could at the clueless pigeons until they flew up, soaring over are heads. We both laughed and kept running. “Let’s act like we’re planes”, I said. With arms stretched out, we ran around and made buzzing sounds with our lips before we decided to fly back to the tree for some more time together. With him sitting in my lap, I sang a song about a spider crawling up his leg. This one is his favorite. “Let’s go mommy,” he says so I gathered up our belongings and headed to the car. We were half way there when he turned back around and went back to our special tree, which meant he wanted some more time with me. He lay down and I followed his lead. Under the tree with our hands behind our heads, we look up through the branches. He didn’t say anything but I kept glancing at him because I knew he was saying he loved me.