It’s funny the things your kids teach you. Watching my little man as he is learning to explore the world around him has been like watching myself.
You see, he’s determined to learn the hard way. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell him “no” to certain things (like the fireplace), he’s determined to find out for himself. (And, no, we haven’t had a fire in there since he became infatuated with it.) And, when I say he’s “determined,” I mean it. A little pain is not enough to deter him from trying something (like pulling up on a stool then pushing it out of his way…only to fall face first into it). When the crying stops, he crawls right back, ready to try again. It’s like the way he tries to crawl carrying blocks…they cause his little hands to slip right out from under him, and he falls over…again and again.
It’s not just that he doesn’t understand how something works. He wants it to work his way. Like when he couldn’t pry a sliding door open. After a few unsuccessful attempts, he crawled back a few feet and took a running crawl (whatever that is) and headbutted the door. When it didn’t open, he just looked at us like “What?”
Oh how I know how he feels. I’m so much like that in my own life…and I don’t have the excuse of not being a year old yet either. It just makes me pray that God will give me the faith to take Him at His word. Just obey because I should. That I’ll let go of the things that keep tripping me up. And that I’ll wait for Him to open doors before I try to plow through them.
(Oh, and no, my daughter was not quite like this…I told you boys are different from girls…)