Delightful distractions

Last weekend, I had a colossal mountain of copy to write, but I also had to look after Everett because Emily had an Australian football game. I wasn’t worried. I had a plan. I’d be quick to change and feed my son, but for the most part, I would have him distracted with toys or his jolly jumper. He is at the stage now that he can entertain himself, especially if you allow him near important documents or bills. I’d set up toys on his mat, and encourage him to spend hours tasting all the varieties of stuffed animals.

Then I’d also encourage my wife to not spend more hours than necessary away from house. When she came home, Everett would be ready for human interaction and then I could fully focus on writing. It was the perfect plan. My Saturday would be productive, and I would get everything I needed done.

And you know what, my Saturday was productive. If you define productive as, “spent several hours of quality time with my son, and then told my wife to take her time getting home so I could spend even more hours of play.”

Come on, you know that is how “productive” really should be defined.

I tried to get work done. I really did. I was up before Everett, and so I did get some writing in then. Once he woke up, I did the responsible parenting things like change him, clean his face, and feed him. I then decided that I should at least have a bit of play with him, and so I put him in his jolly jumper and cheered him while he bounced up a storm.

After I thought I gave him sufficient attention, I brought him upstairs, set up some toys for him, and then concentrated on my writing work. For about 5 minutes. Then my son started laughing and cheering, and I had to see what was so exciting. I watched him play with his stuffed horse and toy carrot. He looked like he was having a lot of fun. He clearly was asking for some pointers on how to properly play. So, I provided him with the direction – for about an hour or so.

Then I thought that since I’d spent so much time playing with him, then I should also educate him. So, we went for a walk with Summit, and showed him various things in nature. But then it really wasn’t fair that just Summit and I received exercise. When we got home, I helped him practice getting in the crawling position and then allowed him to jump on my belly for a bit.

The natural progression from practice crawling and belly jumping is to make silly noises at each other. If you fill your son’s mind with silly noises then you also need to put in some quality knowledge. I clearly had to read him some stories, too.

Everett did nap. I did work while he was napping. But the majority of the day was “Everett spends many hours of quality time with daddy.” The time was of such high quality that when Emily called us, I told her that there was no need to rush home. This was an Everett and daddy kind of day.

I ended up having to do a whole lot of writitng the next day. But you see, writing does a good job of waiting around for me. My son keeps on growing and changing. I need to take these moments and enjoy exactly who my son is right now. My decision to focus on my son made it one of the greatest Saturdays ever. It reminded me what a precious treasure I currently have in my life.