“How do you do Nothing?” asked Pooh, after he had wondered for a long time. “Well, it’s when people call out at you just as you’re going off to do it. What are you going to do, Christopher Robin, and you say; Oh, nothing, and then you go and do it.”
A.A. MILNE THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER
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This, of course, reminds me of Elliott. It is amazing how busy he can be when he’s “doing nothing.”
It was a year ago, perhaps, when I first popped the question to Elliott, “what are you doing?” and he answered, “nothing,” and went right back to doing it. It surprised me to hear that from someone so young and I laughed to myself, for he wasn’t doing anything that he thought he\’d get in trouble for and was very content.
We’ve had a lot of time together, Elliott and I, since Abigail started full day Kindergarten this past September. The days go by quickly and the end of the school year is just around the corner, along with that nice weather I’m waiting for.
Elliott is eagerly trying to read and it is a joy to sit as we did last night, on his bed, and hear him say, “Mommy; I’m going to read you this story,” as he proceeds to read me two stories, almost verbatim, (they are the same two stories he has been having Paul read to him every night before bed for the last two weeks).
Everything is a new adventure, an exciting game for Elliott. We sing the alphabet as he washes his hands and he sings in his sweet melodic voice. He loves knowing the letters and saying their sounds.
When he really wants to hear a bit of music that he loves, he hops up on the couch and asks for the cd cover and just sits and takes it in.
Sometimes he likes me to chase him and i scoop him up and make him soar like an airplane and listen to his unstoppable giggles that come from deep within. Elliott is happy.
I’m glad I have this time at home with him, and with Abigail, before she started Kindergarten. I am glad that I have not succumbed to the pressure by my culture to go out into the world to find worth and meaning in a job outside the job of caring for my family and raising my kids. I am glad that I have not bought into the idea that we can have it all. It’s tight financially, but who can put a price on these years that I will never be able to get back. I am living them, with my kids; knowing them through the good and the bad days, and it’s awesome.
I can have days with Abigail and Elliott that we go and do nothing, just like Pooh. I like those kind of days, and my kids do too.