The story behind "Did you see that?"

You may wonder, what is all this "Did you see that" nonsense... Well, here you go.

My son asks the question "Did you see that?" after everything he does. After he throws a ball, after he takes a drink of water, after he pees in the potty... You name it, he wants to make sure everyone saw it. So, we have to be sure we are always paying attention so when he asks we can always say "Yes, I did see that!" and ask him a question, do a little cheer, maybe a dance, whatever the occasion calls for.

I think "Did you see that?" is a question that we should always ask ourselves a little more often. Who would have ever thought you could get so much joy out of watching a toddler jump off our 2 inch high stone thing where a woodburning stove should reside, but does not for various reasons- the biggest of which being a 2 year old running around with a particular fascination for things that he knows he is not supposed to touch. Oh, and the fact that we live in South Georgia and rarely need the heat- much less a woodburning stove. Yet again, I digress. Back to "Did you see that?" I think if everyone paid attention to the things a 2 year old pays attention to and wants everyone else to see, we would all find a lot more joy in life. For example, if you were to watch a grasshopper for an extended period of time, you would notice that he does lots of entertaining things- rubs his legs together, hops on occasion, flaps his wings if he's the flying type. A grasshopper on the sidewalk around my parent's pool entertained Carson for a full 5 minutes. This from the kid who sits still for nothing; if you make it through a whole page in a book before he finds something more entertaining, you've accomplished something. And yet, a tiny grasshopper is source of unlimited wonderment!

So there you go. His constant asking of the question "Did you see that?" teaches me to really see things for their inherent value, however small. Because of that little boy I notice balloons again, take joy in blowing bubbles, and yes, even appreciate being able to pee in the potty.