Gifts

Gifts are wonderful treasures in our lives. Gifts are not always just brown paper packages tied up with string or red foiled boxes with a bright green bow on top. Gifts come to us in many different ways.

A gift could be a little bit of nature, ordinary nature, but for some reason, a ladybug might catch your eye, like one did for me today. Literally, it looked like she and I connected eye to eye. Hers, itsy-bitsy little eyes looking through what looked like sunglasses and mine; squinting to see in the strong rays of the sun amongst all of the other thousand ladybugs on my front porch. But that little moment was a gift to me and made my day a little brighter.

Or gifts can be little special moments brought to you by your children. Even when they don't mean to, they give you gifts. Ahhh, so many gifts. My kids give me many gifts every day. A kiss, a hug, a smile, a cute new facial expression. No matter what it is, each gift is shared in a special way.

I was looking for a challenge. A new challenge for these boys. A new book of games, math problems, puzzles. "Hmmmm.....What could we get at the library to give us a challenge today..." Half way though looking through aisles of books, toys and puzzles, Kyle said he had to go potty. The three of us went to find the bathroom and I changed Charlie's diaper while we were in there. During this busy bathroom event, I took notice that the kids were acting wrestless, hungry and tired. We walked out of the bathroom and I was now on a mission with a timeframe. It was then that a whiff of a new challenge that I hadn't even thought of, overcame me. A red-faced Charlie looked up at me. It was a diaper blow-out in the middle of the quiet library that only came right after I changed him with the last diaper in the bag. The car was parked blocks away and I could almost hear the squishy pants as we walked quickly through the silence. I guess I should be careful of what I state out loud as the goal for the day.

One morning, on my way to drop the kids off at preschool, I was thinking about how hungry I was and how I did not have time to grab myself something to eat before we left the house. I hear a cry, a whine from the backseat. Uh oh, I thought. "Something is wrong." Suddenly, something moves on the seat next to me. I look over and before I even get a chance to see what it is, something else moves, this time on my head. Another and another hit. Pit, pat, smoos, boomph...."What the heck?" I say out loud. I realize what it is at the same time I hear a little voice from the back say "I don't WANT french toast for breakfast, Mommy!" I think to myself in pure sarcasm "Awww, how thoughtful. He must have known I was hungry." I have to say, I did scrape it off the seat, my hair and the dash for reasons other than wanting a clean car. It satisfied my hunger and yummmm, if I do say so myself.

What is a gift, really? A gift is NOT when your four year old uses kid scissors to cut a piece of plastic wrap at the bottom of his ladybug cup only to catch your hand in the blades. Even though he gave me a nice gash in my hand, this was not a gift. The look on his face was priceless. A gift? No, I don't think that would qualify either. It looked like he felt mortified. Both hands on his cheeks, mouth wide open, eyes wide and scared. He kept repeating over and over: "Oh Mommy! I'm sooooo sorry. I'm soooo sorry, Mommy." A gift IS good manners and an honest feeling of guilt and caring that I must have instilled in him at some point thus far. I asked him if he would kiss it for me and he replied "I really don't want to kiss the bleeding Mommy, I am sorry."

A gift is definitely when I was carrying my sleeping Kyle up to his bed for nap. He suddenly popped his head up off my shoulder and looked at me and said "I love you" in a deep sigh and his head fell back down onto my shoulder.

I received a gift from Charlie today when he gave his Bullseye doll to me and said the doll needed a kiss. I was so touched just with the one statement. But he went on to say "Mommy, Bullseye loves you because you rub his back at nightime and sing songs." This was just so special as I am thinking (hoping) this is really how Charlie feels!

We all get gifts. Gifts for birthdays. Gifts for holidays. The best gifts are the ones we get to give to other people and the cool thing is, it does not have to be a material thing. I love how my kids make me feel, make me laugh and melt my heart. Those are the true gifts. They have so many talents that will develop over the years that will then benefit other people. Maybe they will use those gifts to be an actor, a CFO, a publisher, a Senator or a chef ... someday.

For now.... I'll keep my hands away from scissors and work harder on potty training!