Simple Joy

Staying home with your child for a few months can teach you a lot about yourself. I've learned I don't deal well with crying for more than 20 minutes because I'm a sucker. I've learned I curse like a sailor over spilled milk. I've learned oxy-clean is a product of the Gods which removes baby ickies from anything. I've learned how to do three things at once. And I learned to remember that I used to love simple joys.

I used to get great joy out of a windy day. I'd throw my hands out to my sides on the way to school and as I walked down the street I'd spin in the breeze whipping my hair around my face and making me giggle. It made my heart race in the morning to hear that breeze outside the window when I woke up. I loved my cold hands waving around me in the icy air of morning. It was free, pure, innocent fun.

My daughter gets a simple joy from hearing people sing to her. She giggles and coos and watches in wide eyed amazement as you make sounds she loves, whether it be a hummed melody or an off key ballad for her it's the best show off broadway and she'd love nothing more than to hear it over and over again. Throw in the ability to see the ceiling fan at the same time and she'll lay there with her heart racing and her little feet kicking until the end of your final encore performance.

My neice is all about adventure. She loves the next corner before she ever turns it. She wants to be higher, faster, and farther from whereever she has already been. She's always looking for something to get into, something open or close, something to hide behind. She's constantly moving, going as fast as her little flat feet will carry her. You can follow the sound of her flinstone step and her care free giggles from room to room all day.

Her simple joy and the wonder in my daughters eyes have led me back to a more childish time. I hand her oreo cookies with reckless abandon and watch her learn about the adventures of new tastes. Then I take my daughter out into the foggy morning for a minute to let her feel the coldness against her skin and I stand in simple joy watching them learn about those things that are pure, free, innocent fun.