My son and I have been spending 24 hours a day together for the past couple months. It’s been wonderful, but also occasionally a strain, because we are creatures of habit who are not used to spending so much time alone together. But here we are in a new place (Gozo, Malta), where we know very few people. So we’re stuck with one another.
And just when I could perhaps be forgiven for feeling a bit saturated by my beloved four-year-old’s constant presence, he reminded me of the beauty of language, and the fact that figures of speech don’t become dull and cliché until we are big. Much older than four.
A couple of days ago, Sebastian had a tummy ache and took one of those mega-naps in the afternoon that should have eaten into night-time sleep, but didn’t.
“You were feeling a bit under the weather there, weren’t you?” I said the next morning when he got up.
“Yeah,” he answered, “but now I’m starting to climb up the weather.”
He said this without skipping a beat.
I laughed, because there he was, suddenly in my imagination, scaling the side of a dark cloud, hair plastered to his head from rain, and happy.
Kindergarten starts Monday. And with it, a return to old habits.
[Photo: kevin dooley]
Our family spent a sabbatical vagabond year. Two middle-schoolers and a four-year old, plus two parents, all spending 24/7 together, often in very simple (read tiny) spaces and with the challenges and joys of traveling. It was an opportunity (the intensity of the time spent together as well as the travel) that few have in these days of scattered family life. Enjoy it, and enjoy those beautiful little morsels that can only come from the mouths of babes! :)
Children do say the most precious things don’t they? Years ago when my daughter was around four she said: “When I grow up I’m not going to have babies; I’m going to have puppies ‘cos they’re so much cuter!”
There is a blog Award waiting for you over at The Garden Gate Julia.
Take care.
Love the whimsical wisdom in this, and the beautiful language – from both of you!