My son was at the stage where he could talk but also able to run around in a diaper and nothing else. His eyes were large. His head was slightly larger in proportion to the rest of his body.
I often wondered how he made it through each day without an agenda - nothing to do except play. This did not keep him from always finding something to do.
As he paused in front of me, curiosity seemed to radiate from the son. He was giving me a chance to participate. As his big eyes looked into me, he seemed to be wondering, “What are we going to do right now?” Right now was his longest time frame that mattered. Since there is no time that is not a good time to learn, I decided to introduce the concept of days of the week to him.
“Do you know what day it is?” I asked.
He darted away towards the edge of the couch. This was his nice way of letting me know this official conversation was officially over. As he was about to turn the corner and pick up momentum, he slowed down just enough, looked over his shoulder and said, “A wonderful.”
It took 2 to 3 long seconds before I put answer and question together.
The elder ancestors in his DNA had spoken.
Meanwhile, he proceeded to run around the couch and table. While I was sitting there trying to catch up, he was chasing curiosity that was obviously everywhere he looked.
I immediately realized through his wide-eyed vision, he was way ahead of me on this one.
Since there was no time like the present to learn, I sat there and watched one expert as I listened to another.
I realized the lesson for him was over and done with, but the lessons for me had just begun. I marveled and laughed at how wisely a child corrects arrogance. By his actions and words before and after our brief conversation, my son had taught me how not to get completely sucked into a world of worries when there's a greater world filled with wonder. He was more advanced than me. All children are before being taught how not to be.
As I ran around, doing what those in the know, do, I slowed down some and consciously allowed curiosity to spill into my grown-up space. The every day details of living looked different through wider-opened eyes. My head seemed to expand as the rest of the day filled with wonder.
