The wizened sage, our eldest, has learned how to mimic at 13 months. This weekend we got THREE new "mimicked" words - after we practiced what the duck said, he said, clear as a bell, "quack, quack." The following day, our turkey noises were met with his, "gobble, gobble." And then yesterday morning, as I was updating the nanny before I left for work, he agreed with me as he clearly said, "okay." Words! It's just amazing. In addition to all that fun, all three are walking distances - they are not yet exclusively walking, they do some crawling some walking, but they ARE walking - from Bray to me, from me to my mom, etc. And they're just so proud of themselves. Their chest puffs out, they come racing toward me full tilt, and then throw their arms around your neck upon arrival still standing! And I'm left with a fabulous combined sensation of wanting to laugh and applaud. If that were not enough, the youngest knows his colors - at 13 months! Saturday I told him to get the red ball (we have blue, red, green and yellow boxes w/different objects of that color inside) and he crawled right over & plucked the red ball out. Lest I think it was a one off, the following day, I told him to get me the red apple, and low and behold, out he plucked the red apple! What pure joy over such small victories! Words. Steps. Knowledge. Gifts, all three.
Where does that get lost? When do we start using words that cause pain instead of joy? When do we start running in the wrong direction instead of racing toward a parent waiting with outstretched arms. Why do we let our mind atrophy, or worse, use our knowledge for bad instead of good? I can't pinpoint it. But I know I'm guilty of it. Currently guilty of it. I've been so angry at someone, and I'm not really much for anger, that I'm doing all three - using my intellect to construct words that would hurt and I'm hurtling away from my Heavenly Father who would have such better wisdom and guidance for me if only I was headed in the right direction. And I know I'm headed in the wrong direction, but it's like getting a train to u-turn to get me headed back to the One who could straighten this out, or at least provide me with peace and restraint.
I hope for myself, and any of you struggling with the same issue, we will see in our children (or other children) the ability to speak and walk and think in joyful, life-affirming ways and carry that with us as a reminder when we go hurtling off in the wrong direction using our feet or our mouths or our brains to deliver pain instead of joy.
Wow, that is profound.
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