Heidi Beth

It started at the kitchen sink

From the kitchen sink at our house on Wiley I could turn my head to the right and see the back yard. We lived there 9 months. Let's see, Devyn was 13 months old when we moved in. While we were packing up the apartment we lived in prior he helped move boxes. One afternoon he eyed a particularly large box in the dining area and decided to move it. This little baby, just barely walking (less than 2 months) put 2 hands on the top edge, bent one knee, straightened his other leg behind him, lowered himself just a bit and pushed the box! His technique was so...advanced...and surprising. Impressive too! During our last month in the same apartment we became acquainted with Devyn's interest in all things decorative and with in reach (even if he had to jump for them). Packing started early.

So having a yard for this little guy was great. It was also my first experience living in a little house on a quiet street with a fenced in yard and attached garage. We decided to try the extended family thing so my mom moved in with us. She took the room over the garage. A good learning experience, but a story all it's own for another day. Our time at the house on Wiley could be a book actually. As I type, a list of key experiences, beautiful memories (like watching my dad and Chris go into their own world inside the steady base beating of their djembe drums on New Years eve), turning point realizations, adventures in possibly owning a cafe then not, and the two long visits my dad enjoyed with us come to mind and beg to be shared. But not today.

In this yard, on hot summer days, David would often pull out our long blue plastic sled, fill it with water and call it a swimming pool. Then we'd strip Devyn to babyness and let him splash and dance until he was ready to stop or got too cold. I was still newly married, an only child trying to adjust to life with a husband and now a cheerful, playful, energetic, curious, intelligent little boy. I struggled with wanting order and clean dishes more often than necessary. I struggled with letting in all of this wonderfulness that was now my family life. So I spent many hours washing dishes. I'd be at the sink, quietly feeling in control of my world, content to be seeing tangible immediate results for my efforts and from that place I'd look out and see Devyn and David having a grand time getting wet, experiencing life fully. I liked the way afternoon sunlight slid in to the room with the sounds of their laughter. I liked how Devyn would come in and out on various toddler errands only he could define. I liked making food for the boys. I liked being outside with them too but I wasn't nearly as good as David at being present with Devyn, aware of the possibilities for joy and what a little one may find entertaining. Fortunately for me and probably for Devyn too, he was easily absorbed in a given task, like taking apart a mechanism on the screen door for hours, which David would later put back together, or looking out the window at squirrels eating the scraps of food I threw in the yard, because I was often only comfortable if I was cleaning, washing up after dinner, sweeping the floor. I did spend plenty of time nursing Devyn (the upside down kid), helping him paint at his little wooden desk, hanging out with friends and family that came by often, taking bus rides to construction sites where Devyn would be mesmerized by the real life big machines he first saw in little board books, but I had a limit that always came sooner than I wanted it too.

Fortunately I've grown since then and dishes can wait (but not too long...)just like the phone (no matter how much it annoys certain people that I ignore the ringer often ;)), because I have a beautiful family to enjoy (which has grown since the Wiley place to include Matthew, another energetic, intelligent, inquisitive boy) .

Posted by heidi at January 9, 2010 08:23 PM