the keeper of things

...sticks and stones and graham crackers

as the mother of a toddler, i am learning how to look at the world through a new lens. not just in the 'oh my gosh, isn't the world a miracle once you experience the joy of a small baby?' lens (although yes, i do have that), but i mean a lens that's a little smaller, and seemingly less epic. let me explain... 

i am 5'8". i've been this tall since maybe... 8th grade? so, for like, 1000 years, i've been this height and experienced the world at this (literal) level. my crazy, monkey-head of a son is 2'6" tall. that's a full three foot difference- which is a lot when you think of it. and i didn't think of it much, honestly, until i started to really watch him walk around our house, and pay attention to what he pays attention to. a three foot difference creates a very different lens through which to view every day life.

and what i have found is that there are lots of little, fascinating things that i take for granted- hanging dish towels on the stove handle, or extra toilet paper stacks next to the toilet, or even boxes on the floor, full of out-grown clothes. each of these examples i have seen my son look at with marvel, and adopt into a fun new toy or experience that only he can understand as awesome. just today, i watched him wander into the kitchen, waving a squash racket, walk around me, and then walk out of the kitchen just as fast as he came. and as he walked out, passing by the stove, he nonchalantly-without missing a beat- moved the racket to his right hand, grabbed the red dish towel with his left hand, and continued on his merry way, waving both of his new found objects in the air, yelling.

later in the morning, as i got ready for work, i looked down at him playing under the pedestal sink and realized he was fascinated with, and yelling at, the silver cylinder that holds extra rolls of toilet paper. upon closer inspection, i realized that he had managed to shove all of his (now crumbled) graham crackers through the hole of the cardboard rolls, along with one of my tubes of lipgloss and more shreds of toilet paper. 

last saturday, i watched him (valiantly) fight his afternoon nap on the video monitor. i watched as he pulled off his own pair of pants and then reach through the slats of his crib to a small, cardboard box in the corner, full of all the clothes he has outgrown. i watched him throw his discarded pants out of the crib, and then systematically pull in pieces of clothing, one at a time, and wave them around his head like a parachute. also yelling. 

and let's be honest. the fascination that toddlers have with new things does not stop at small, unnoticed treasures in your home. i have watched him find the smallest, tiniest things to make his toys. and as an attentive parent, i have also realized that these small tiny things are not only toys, but amazing choking hazards. so many of these things end up in my pants pockets by the end of the day. discarded bottle caps, dirt, small sticks, small wrappers, dirt, tags to clothes, leaves, dirt, dog food, and dirt have all been chosen by my little monkey head as amazing, new-found trinkets of joy. did i mention he loves to eat dirt? 

all of this wonder and merriment is more than just entertainment (which i believe it really is). it's truly a captivating blessing to watch a small, new little human discover the world around him. i can't get enough of watching him learn things like how to stick a plastic spoon through the appropriate size hole, or chase ice around the kitchen floor with his mouth, or work out this new 'exchange system' he's begun where he brings one object into a room (say, a baseball hat), and leaves it in place of the new object (tupperware) he decides he must leave the room with. i laugh with my whole heart when i think of what his little mind must be thinking when he leaves me tupperware in my pajama drawer, or waves a towel over his head in the living room, or can't get enough of the remote in his small mouth because apparently he needs it in there. 

so this new lens leaves me blessed and awed and lighthearted. and really, he's created a good exchange system here too: he is the discoverer of new things- a small but long tube that fits all his cookies, or a new red flag in the kitchen. and i get to be the keeper of these things- cookies in toilet paper rolls or sticks and bottle caps in my jeans. and all these little things i get to keep all add up to an amazing, enviable collection of the unique, quirky little joys that come with raising a small but mighty little human. and i am so grateful to be the keeper of things.