Lullabies

My 2 1/2 year old son has a recent habit that is very sweet.  When either myself or my wife puts him to bed, he demands that we sing a lullaby to him.  I put him in his crib and stroke his head while singing songs that I make up on the spot.  I have never been much of a singer, but it’s amazing how I have been able to come up with soothing songs that he falls asleep to.  It is very gratifying as a parent to lullaby your child to sleep.  He asks me for it before we even go upstairs.  He lists all the things he wants to do when I put him to bed.  “Read a book, have water, daddy sing a lullaby!” 

He has had a really good attitude lately, not as much of the emotional basket case he was for a while.  It’s amazing to interract with him, and see all the concepts that he knows already.  He knows things that we have never talked about before, I guess he just picks them up from conversations and being observant.  Almost every day he will suprise my wife or myself with a concept or statement that’s very mature.  Just today, for example, he referred to my wife (his mom) by saying “she would want to go,” when talking to his grandmother.  The layers of his understanding are expanding fast, and it’s amazing as a parent to see his growth.

Right now he is really getting into a talkative stage, where he either describes nearly everything he sees, or he asks us what something (that he doesn’t know) is.  Once you tell him, it’s locked in.  You can ask him the next day or even weeks later about something you told him and he knows it.

Raising children is the most important job I’ve ever had.  It’s an amazing journey filled with wonder, joy, tears, frustration, fear and pride.  It’s being an involved parent.  And that’s how it should be.