I’ve still yet to figure out what posessed me to buy a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle for a (somewhat impatient) five year old, just because it had a picture of a steam train on it. Most likely it was the super sweet pleading eyes he turned on me, making me forget anything else but the images in my head of us sitting side by side at the table, quietly and joyfully working together to complete his puzzle. You know, spending quality bonding time together.
What on earth put those thoughts into my head I don’t know. I mean, how long have I known my son, and how long have I known myself. Putting two related, impatient, perfectionistic people together at a table with a thousand pieces of cardboard that all look the same as the next isn’t necessarily going to lead to a quiet kind of bonding time. Unless I let go of the notion that pieces shouldn’t be forced together, when they obviously don’t match; they shouldn’t be put in the mouth; they don’t have to be put into groups of matching colours and textures – in fact the more random the pieces are placed on the table, the better; we don’t need to complete the edges first; and the picture doesn’t have to end up looking anything like it does on the box. If I can let go of those notions, and simply sit quietly and joyfully with my boy, working together to complete his puzzle – his way – then all will be fine. And, most importantly, my boy will be happy. Which was the whole point of buying the jigsaw that looked like a train anyway.
.jpg "Photo a Day | Jaedon | Thirty Eight")
All I have to do make our girl happy is sing and dance with her, and wiggle our bums. There’s a clip on the show Jim Jam and Sunny (if you’ve ever seen it) where they sing a song, the only words I can remember being ‘Wiggle your bums. Aaaaaaand shake your maracas’. There’s something about doing a high five and clapping your hands in there, but I never get past the Shake Your Maracas. It’s way too reminiscent of a Dirty Dancing scene to ever feel completely innocent in a kids song, but Alicia-Rae and I have fun singing it anyway. And of course she has no idea what the ‘maracas’ are that Jim Jam and Sunny aren’t referring to. They’re actually talking about maracas. 🙂
Anyway – that’s what the pair of us were doing last night, when we should have been getting ready for bed. Standing out on the front pavement, her dressed in her favourite dancing dress, both singing Wiggle Your Bums (accompanied by actions) at the top of our lungs. All I can say is I’m very glad we live in a quiet street.
.jpg "Photo a Day | Alicia-Rae | Thirty Eight")
Narrelle x