The Littlest Things...

Do you ever wish you could return to your youth?  Okay, not the teenage years...no one wants to go there!  Oh, the drama!  I'm thinking a little younger like before your innocent views on life got smashed by name calling and popularity contests.

As I watch our little two-year old get excited over the littlest things, I wonder why don't I see the world the way he does.  When we were able to go outside yesterday without coats...in FEBRUARY..., he was beyond ecstatic! 

He looked at his swing as if to say "Oh, how I've missed you!" 

You could see the pure joy in his eyes.  Nothing else in the world mattered to him.  All worries were ended by one little swing.

Then, there's the beauty of dirt. 

Somehow I took these pictures without realizing what he was doing.  I walked by this spot and saw the sticks in dirt wondering how that happened.  It wasn't until I uploaded the images that my question was answered!  Seriously, I'm that oblivious!

To a sweet, feisty little man, dirt is the next best thing...second to bubbles, of course!  The idea of letting my kids play in the dirt used to be appalling. 

It's nasty, filthy, unappealing, and disgusting. 

But to a child, it's like a little piece of heaven waiting to be molded into mud pies, pizzas, tractor pull arenas, forts, and whatever else a young imagination can create. 

To me, dirt is just something that gets stuck in my shoes and dragged across the floor.  It's another mess that will have to be cleaned. 

Why can't I see the endless possibilities?

With age comes skepticism.  Worries of happiness, money, trust, and love.  Childlike innocence is lost.  I hope to remember the day when my biggest problem was deciding whether to have milk or juice for lunch. 

I LOVE watching the world through the eyes of my children.  My dream is to keep them from becoming cynical...to appreciate all that life has to offer. 

To a child the world is a playground full of mud pies and swings.  Life is about the littlest things.