Friday, March 25, 2011

Spontaneity

There was a time in my life when the word "spontaneous" evoked images of weekend adventures, last minute dinner plans, spur of the moment get-togethers with friends. Now, when I think "spontaneous" I almost always think of it in terms of communication as in unprompted, unscripted, spontaneous utterances from David.

David and I both had the stomach flu this past week. It has been a long week filled with laundry and Lysol, saltines and 7-UP. I am sure that I was short on patience because I felt lousy, David was grumpy and Andrew was simply trying to fly under the radar (or perhaps below the germs), occasionally inquiring whether or not I was planning to feed him ever again and what parts of the house had been disinfected. Michael was—wait for it—leaving town on a business trip.

When you have a baby, you realize that there will be a time when you have to play super sleuth to figure out where it hurts, but by the time you have a six-year-old, you do not expect to still be guessing. For six years, I have been waiting for the time that David could tell me what was wrong, where it hurts while I race after him, looking for the source of the bleeding, or waiting for a peek in his throat, or trying to stem the traveling tidal wave of vomit.

But, this time I actually heard the words. For the very first time, David looked at me and without any kind of questioning from me said spontaneously, "My tummy churts." Sweet music to my ears—wait, grab the bucket. And then, when I later discovered he had not quite made it to the bathroom on time, he looked at me with tears in his big blue eyes and said, again totally unprompted, "Mom-mom, I horry." Two simple, spontaneous phrases that were more exciting for me than a weekend get-away.

4 comments:

  1. Hope everyone is feeling better and Andrew and The Absent One avoid the germs....and the rest of the family too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm glad you were able to find the silver lining! Way to go David for spontaneous language....there's nothing better in the world :)

    Hope you all feel better soon!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wonderful language. And you have something very special to look forward to: the day he says "Been sick" and means IN THE BUCKET. It was a magic moment in our house...
    I've tagged you for a meme - if you're well enough!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry for all the sickness, but that is great that he was able to tell what was wrong.

    ReplyDelete