There is a new show on this fall called "Up All Night". It's about parents with a new baby and the previews are pretty funny. My daughter and her husband dissolve into giggles watching the previews showing exhausted parents asleep on the couch while the baby sits wide awake next to them. With a one-year old, they can relate. With a 4 year old as well, they have also come to realize it doesn't get better. The routines change, but the exhaustion stays.
Warren was quiet for the first 6 months. The next 6 months were more active as he began crawling and getting into things. Then the boy learned to walk. I think he walked for a week. He's been running ever since. This child goes full speed all day. At 18 months every time he heard a tractor, truck or car coming down the gravel road, he would tear down the hallway, charge across the living room and leap onto the couch to watch it go by. This is really great exercise during planting and harvest.
Clean up time (once he's into it) isn't any different. Grab a toy, run across the room. Jump to a stop at the toy shelf. Store the toy. Run back. Repeat. Mom stares, sighs, wants to say, "Just walk!", but instead she shakes her head.
And then there is the most exhausting part of all with a young child...the whining and the tears. As a grandma I know all about it. Been there! Done that! But looking back I know how quickly it all passes. And I know I'm going home soon and where I get to wine (Ahhh)!
As exhausting as kids can be there are many things that make it all worth it. The hugs, the joy of watching them learn new things, and especially those unexpected funny moments when a youngster comes up with just the right comment, or makes an unexpected quip.
One morning I was reading the newspaper when I commented that the astronaut, Mark Kelly, had retired. Warren came running in from the living room. "Does it say that? Where?" I pointed to the newspaper. "Read it to me." Puzzled, I asked him what I had been talking about, thinking he was being a busy body and trying to be a part of Jan's and my conversation. "You said an astronuat was sleepy," came his reply. Jan and I burst out laughing and congratulated him on his interpretation. Then I explained what 'retiring' meant.
Yes, Four year olds are exhausting, and funny, but they can be pretty observant too! In fact, maybe the best thing about young children is the way they change your own perspective of life.
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