Our Boy
Isaac had a great night tonight. We went to Emma, his first kiss':) birthday party at the skating rink from 4-6pm. Isaac was VERY nervous about going because he didn't want to roller skate. After scoping it out for a few minutes he decided to give it a whirl, put on some skates and eased himself into it. He began by first hanging onto the railing, then holding hands with friends and finally, braving the great wide open all by himself. It was a big confidence booster for him, realizing he was brave enough to try, fall and not cry, and good enough to be on his own.
When we got home he and G played for a bit and then I rounded them up into the tub. Joey was at his volleyball game so I was doing the bedtime drill. Isaac was in an adorably silly mood and I just kept laughing at him...okay, okay, I got a little annoyed too because he wasn't staying on task;) but I also appreciated his adorableness! As I was getting Georgie dressed and greased up for the dry winter weather I overheard Isaac, now out of the tub, making CRAZY noises to himself. I headed his way, ready to yell at him to dry off and "GET MOVIN'". I paused for a second at the bathroom door when I saw him, naked in front of the mirror, watching himself do weird lip and face contortions while making growling noises and saying random words..."mommieeeeeeee, WOOOOW, rogher, etc". I rolled my eyes in my head for an instant and prepared myself to get firm with him but a new thought struck me. "Perhaps a few seconds of expressing himself in his own wierd way is more important than my power trip and him getting to bed that many seconds earlier." (A novel idea for me;) Oh how glad I am that I followed through on that thought. The show he put on in front of that mirror, my presence unbeknownst to him, was priceless hilarity. And I held it together, in total silence, the whole time! I'm so proud of myself! But the best part of the whole performance was how he wrapped it all up and came back to himself. Amidst all his craziness he stopped, oh so abruptly, gazed at himself in the mirror and said, "Okay...I am weird-ie-o"
At this point, I could NOT stop myself from bursting out. Silence was far too much to ask. He was so right! He was being soooo weird-ie-o and I LOVED it! He turned rigidly, stunned to find me there, and began busting up right along with me. It was so fun to laugh that hard together and it was sooo fun to see him laughing at himself! After several seconds of deep, belly laughter we began to pull ourselves together. He giggled out an "i'm a little embarrassed" as well as an "I'm sorry" too which I did my best to shut down THOSE thoughts...I'm not sure why he was sorry. I asked him why but he just kept on laughing.
It was a great night! I wish Joey and my mom, if not everyone that loves him, could have been there for it, laughing with us! It was priceless. Isaac is sometimes trapped in his own world of personal constraints, emotions, worry about what others think of him, fear and made a victim of his own tenderheart that I just eat up these moments when he is completely and entirely himself, utterly at home in his own skin. And these moments are getting more and more frequent as he enjoys seeing himself succeed, give, share, like and be liked, and love and be loved! He's growing up! And it's so fun to watch!
p.s. The night before last Isaac discovered what a great reader he is becoming. I have been a bad Mom and haven't spent much time at all pushing him to read for us. He rarely chooses to try hard things on his own so sometimes I'd rather just avoid the battle than work with him. We had some extra time at bedtime, Joey had another volleyball game and the mood was right so I challenged him to read his book to us. (ya right;) None of us could believe the words he was rattling off. After 2 or 3 pages he turned to me and said, suprised, "I'm a good reader!" I praised him after every sentence at first and then every page and then just sort-of randomly. At that point he got even cuter. Every once in a while, after a hard word or the end of a sentence or page he would look up at me with this little melt your heart, "mom, you're so proud of me", soft little grin from ear to ear face, hug me and bury his head into my chest and wait for the compliments to start coming. It caught me off guard at first but then I knew the drill and told him how great he was doing, how proud I was and he would just light up. And then turn to me again a few moments later! It was so cute and vulnerable and I wanted to eat him up! I love you and I AM proud of you, Isaac!
