Time

My little super hero is so funny. Yes, I’m talking about Preston. He is the one who eats, sleeps, and, yes, breathes anything super. He is the one who insists that he doesn’t need to wear a shirt. After all, Spiderman takes his shirt off in the movie in order to transform himself into “Spiderman”. If that’s the case, then why would he need a shirt?

Well, yesterday was just another day, except, of course, that mom was busy all day on the computer. You see, I have needed to sit down and plan out our ward’s nursery schedule for weeks. Everything we have tried so far in that two-hour time period just ends up in “disaster” and I have 10 different people telling me 10 different opinions on the way things should happen in nursery. So yesterday was my day to sort it all out and get that mess organized. Nevermind the fact that Preston was poopy. Nevermind the fact that he had already watched two movies in a row. Nevermind the fact that he just wanted to play with someone, ANYONE… I just needed to get it done.

The next thing I know, Preston is crawling on me with Batman and Spiderman in each hand, fighting to the death. I patiently waited to see if he would get down off of the office chair by himself. Of course, any mom knows that’s not going to happen. He happily played with his various super heroes while slowly pushing me out of the office chair. I finally had enough and forced him to go play in by the TV (yes, a movie was still going).

After a few minutes of peace, he runs into the office with Spiderman in hand and yells, “Spiderman, Mom! Spiderman!” I turn to him and say, “Yes, Preston… That is Spiderman.” He walks out of the room satisfied to have gotten my attention and not 1 minute passes when he runs in with a stuffed Buzz Lightyear that he got for Christmas. He yells, “Buzz-Year, Mom! Buzz-Year!” This time it took two tries to get a response from me. I turn to him and say, “Yep, that’s Buzz Lightyear.” I turn back to the computer ready to finish up my preparations. Again, not 1 minute passes when he runs in with his stuffed BullsEye – the horse from Toy Story – and yells, “Ooze-Eye, Mom! Ooze-Eye!” This time it took three or four tries to get me to turn to him. At first I didn’t know what he was saying. Usually he calls this horse “Ohsey”. I stared at him for a minute, confused, and not quite sure what to say. Then it dawned on me what he was saying. At that moment, he broke my defenses. I forgot that I was intensely working out other issues and just focused on him. I couldn’t help but chuckle and say, “Good job, Preston. That’s BullsEye.”

He seemed to realize that he had done it. He had made me stop, in spite of myself, and pay attention to him. Even if it was for a brief moment, he was satisfied. And he walked away with a smile on his face and a sparkle in his little eye. That’s when I realized that I need to get my priorities straight. No matter what is going on in my life, I have this wonderful blessed opportunity to spend time with my boys. I say opportunity because I have a choice. I can ignore this opportunity and try to trudge through the other stuff that is going on in my life. Or I can stop everything and take the opportunity to sit and play with them. Time passes so quickly with these little ones. I need to make the time count.