his pace

yesterday marked a milestone in the little man's life. even though walking alone to different playgrounds, parks and to run errands has become a part of this day-to-day life, yesterday we set off to our (rather) long (for 2-year-old steps, at least) walk to the train station to make the weekly ride to my parents' house - without mama pushing the (empty) stroller, "just in case".

i have realized more and more during the last couple of weeks how good it is to keep our days as free as possible from dates with very strict timing, obligations that force us to move quickly through our routine because we have to be here or there at a set time. of course, such appointments cannot be completely avoided, and as they do come up we like to take advantage of the good old stroller (or car).

but most of the time, my little one sets the pace. he decides which route to take, where to stop and watch, which scenes to take in more intently, which puddles to walk through (or where to stop and realize that aforementioned puddles have completely vanished or turned into ice by now).

i have to hold myself back from hurrying him, from making him move on, from thinking of what time could have been saved if i had sat him in the stroller (living in the city, we hardly use the car). because it is so precious, this time in which he knows nothing of time, of clocks ticking, of timetables and agendas. for him, there's just this moment, moments spent learning about, watching and discovering the world around him with his 2-year-old sense of wonder.



my child, you amaze me each and every day. and you teach me to treat each day with wonder and amazement.

9 comments:

Sara {home is where the cookies are} said...

Oh, I love moments like those. Where we, as parents, can actually remember to stop our racing adult "must-do-now" minds and see it from the kiddos' perspective. It's rejuvenating, isn't it?

amanda {the habit of being} said...

so true sylvia. going at their pace helps them to feel they matter and forces us stressed out parents to slow down and relax.

house full of jays said...

Very wise. It's so hard not to rush, rush, rush. But there is so much to learn when the pace is slower.

simona said...

slow pace? yeah, that's my nephew, haha! me and him will enjoy our deliberate, slow pace together again one day. can't wait to sit with him over a meal that takes forever next time we get together :)

i'm so glad it snowed over there so he gets to enjoy the wonder of a white landscape!

barefoot mama said...

love this! SO much mama wisdom in this post..thank you for sharing this with us!

Danielle Quarmby said...

Gorgeous. Beautiful post.

I miss that chance a little from the first, though when the older kids are at school we can have at least a day or two without schedule for Cedar. Until school pick up, that is :)

Katie said...

thanks for the comment on my blog! what a good mindset to have too - sometimes little kids have the best perspective on life! : )

Monica said...

I still keep that slow, meandering, inquisitive pace today and it irks my parents... I suppose they expect it to be gone by high school. But keep encouraging the faculty of wonder in your son, and remember that time really does not exist but is merely a constraint constructed by human consciousness in an attempt to make the universe "manageable."

Marianne said...

Yes, our children can teach us a lot about appreciating "every-day-wonders" in life. A tiny ant, a little flower, the moon visible during daytime, ice on a puddle, a snowflake on one's shoe and so on. In fact, they remind us about life as it was supposed to be - without stress.

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