The other day George was pretending to be a horse. He had me tie Owen's belt around his waist (I don't know if this was the saddle or the bridle), and then he crawled around the kitchen making horse-like sounds. I decided to help him out with this endeavor and started singing all the horsey songs I know: "Trot, trot, to Boston-town," "Horsey, horsey, on your way," "This is the way the ladies ride," "Yankee Doodle," "Ride a cock horse." William was nearby, and he looked at me in amazement. He said, "Did you just learn all those songs Mom, or have you always known them?" I laughed and informed him that I sang all of them to him and Ryrie and I knew them before that!
That got me thinking. All those songs and books I read the kids--all the baby signs they knew, all the dinosaur names they knew by the time they were 3 for crying out loud! And now they don't remember learning any of that. Why did it seem so important to me to teach them all that if they were just going to forget it? I look at Georgie and how he loves to help clean up. He sings the little clean up song and does a great job of it. But in a year, or less probably, he won't like it anymore. Then will it always be a chore for him for the rest of his life? Will he never remember liking it? And all these little songs he sings along with me--is he going to forget those too? I guess it made me feel a little useless, because a part of me (although I know its a bit silly to want this) wants the boys to remember every little thing we do together, so that they will do it with their kids!
But then I started to think that maybe raising kids is like baking a cake. We put in the ingredients, and each one is really important because it will make the cake turn out great, but when we are eating the cake we don't say to ourselves, "wow, that baking powder is so significant in making this cake delicious!" or "wow, that salt is just the right saltiness!" At least I don't say that.
So I guess all the little things we do each day DO make a difference in the long run--they all add together and mix and meld and aid the little soul that is already a wonderful person by themselves, and they just get to get guided by us for a bit.
I'm going to eat some Boy Cake this week and just enjoy the people these 5 are becoming--and try not to worry about how much they are retaining. :-)
Rach I LOVE that! Thank you for sharing that awesome insight. Maybe it's because of my somewhat creepy fascination with parenting or my love for baking, but either way this analogy really strikes a chord with me! Thanks for sharing--I sure wish the boys could remember every single thing you do with them because you sure are working some pretty amazing miracles up there, and baking some pretty awesome cakes. :)
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