Stars

I'm always looking for small fun life experiences to share with my little son, Jaiden. I feel so priveleged to share in this beautiful time in his life and I don't want it to drift by because I'm tired and I want to watch tv. Often at night when I'm trying to drift off to sleep, I'll plan out all of these wonderful projects I'll do with Jaiden or great adventures we'll have someday, but my midnight plans are often complicated or expensive. If I wait until I have the time, money and energy to do these things, not many will get done. So that's when I realize that there are many little things I can do that don't take much effort, but really count.

Last night Jaiden and I spent about an hour putting up glow in the dark stars on the ceiling of his room. I stood on the chair and he carefully considered and then pointed out where each piece should go. I had an old assortment of stars, aliens, planets, comets and squids left over from my room in my teen years. I always get excited when being a mommy gives me a chance to play with toys, finger paint, playdough or all those other fun things you're supposed to leave behind with your childhood. I love glow in the dark stuff! And Jaiden did too! After we put up the stars, we laid on the floor and talked about all the things that belong in the sky. We planned a few space ship adventures and then we tried to count the stars, which was really challenging since there are about 50 and Jaiden can only count to 20ish. It was a fun beautiful experience!

So my goal is this: do a little something special with him everyday. It could be coloring a picture together, talking a walk, going to get a muffin at the bakery, watering our tomatoes or playing hide and seek in the backyard. I can tell sometimes that something I'm doing will be an absolutely precious memory later, but most importantly, I get a little time each day to just cherish his life and mine too. Sweet.