With all that has been going this past week, I haven’t had the chance to even reflect on the wonder that is my second son, much less the chance to share it with you.
Business to take care of at home, projects at work, well, it’s safe to say that this weekend and the time it allows to decompress is well appreciated.
Don’t get me wrong—I love my job. I am so very fortunate to do something I think is important and to work for someone who really inspires the best of those who work under her.
Do you know how much that can weigh on you, though? When you work for someone who you respect and admire, and you want to do the best job possible, and you happen to be a Type A, CDO, only-child perfectionist?
Yes, I know I have a problem. Back to Ant.
My second son is developing an exceedingly complex, inquisitive, and highly humorous personality right before our eyes. I know that every time one of my children enters a particular stage of growing up, I say that it is my favorite, but I do think the early school years really pull ahead. Let’s face it—all of the fun of reading stories aloud together and the occasional snuggling, along with the ability to ride amusement park rides made for people over 48 inches tall with unabashed joy and no need to wake up every night in the middle of the night to stagger around in the dark searching for whatever it will take to make the non-verbal creature who has you at their beck and call go back to freaking sleep.
Plus, he can get his own glass of milk and make his own cereal in the morning—usually without catastrophe. This, my friends, is really underrated in the parenting realm. We should take more time to appreciate it when our kids want to make their own sandwiches. Making another freaking sandwich can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in this house.
There’s something more, though. We’ve seen it since he was an infant. Somehow, this child has always been able to get across what he needs to get across, or been able to read your tells of emotion like a book, since his earliest days. It has its pros and cons. Pro- there was a lot less tantrum throwing in the toddler years. Con- it can kind of creep you out.
Today, I was cooking butter noodles for lunch. It’s a favorite in this household, mainly because I say it is a favorite in this household. My cooking skills are limited, and this one is a no-brainer. Mostly. I have been known to screw up butter noodles, too.
I was sitting in the kitchen, wondering what the hell happened to my dried basil, and wondering what else I could put in there to keep K from complaining about the fact that we have butter noodles every two weeks or so. I kept coming back to the paprika. Over and over again, I stated at the paprika, wondering if I should put some in there. I decided against, closed the cabinet door, and heard Ant come in from the bonus room behind me.
I could feel his eyes in my back for a moment before he spoke. “You’re cooking butter noodles, right?”
I replied in the affirmative.
“Well, I think you should go ahead and use paprika in the butter noodles. Let’s see how it turns out. You know that’s what Daddy would do.”
Um, yeah. Ok, kid.
I did put the paprika in, however. It was okay.
Or earlier in the week, before work and school, when I was getting ready to head out for the morning. I went to find Ant, prepared to say goodbye for the day, wish him a good day at school, etc. I was marveling at the fact that we say the same thing every morning, and I was trying to come up with something new and witty to say to him this morning—something to make me smile throughout the day and him giggle at that moment.
I’m not that great of a wordsmith, especially in conversations. Yes, I do try to think of ways to actually be witty throughout my day.
I found Ant, sitting there as if he had been expecting me. Before I could even open my mouth, he started speaking to me.
“Ok, Mom. Good bye. Have a great day at work. Don’t try to come up with something funny right now, sometimes it’s just better to say what you mean. Now, go. Go! Before you are late to work.”
I was stunned.
I went out to the car, loading my purse and laptop case into the seat behind me. Ant came out, surveying how quickly I was heading out, I presume. I had my marching orders, after all. “Mom, I do mean it, you know. Have a great day at work today. I’ll make sure to have a great day at school.” Then he turned around, and walked back inside, just like that.
Do I think my kid is psychic, or can read other people’s minds? Nope. I don’t plan to have Ghosthunters come out to my house and try to read his aural energy any time soon. I think he has the uncanny knack of being able to read everything about a person, especially from their non-verbal communication. I think he may the best at it that I have ever seen in my life.
The goal has always been to get him to use his powers for good, and not evil. Now the question is whether he’ll end up being a FBI profiler, working security at some Las Vegas casino, or playing either one on TV…
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