Nol sat at the kitchen table reading a book while I worked on dinner (Lentil soup, if you must know). Aside from the chop, chop, chop of my knife dicing carrots and celery, the house was mostly quiet. Nol erupted in laughter. I looked over and he was quiet again. Another cackle. Apparently Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw is pretty damn funny. The best part? My big kid gets the humour on his own.
The sound of your young child laughing while reading independently is melodic. It causes those parental feelings of pride, warmth, love and nostalgia to all gush around in your brain. Also? It makes you smile.
While Nol finished off his book, I continued to putter in the kitchen. But I also started thinking about all of those sounds that were new to me as a parent. Sure, kids can make lots and lots of annoying, loud noises. But also? They make unexpected sounds that bring such happiness when you hear them for the first time.
I have a few friends becoming first-time parents in the near future and while they're all stressed out about diapers and poop and babies crying, what color to paint the nursery, and you know, the laboring and delivering business, they're also excited about hearing their newborn's first cries. (I should add that typing that last line made me tear up as I recalled my boys' births.)
Note to these soon-to-be parents: You'll spend an infinite amount of time watching your kids and you'll become wistful as you watch them grow up before your eyes. But you also need to spend an infinite amount of time listening to them from afar because holy cow, you will melt.
Do you know how much you have to look forward to?
Sounds that could stop you in your tracks, make you wax poetic when you hear them for the first time, and make you hope you will remember that exact moment years from now:
- Your kid laughing while reading a book independently (see above).
- Your kid's imagination running wild as he/she applies new facts and ideas learned from preschool and books to toys/games.
- Your kid saying "Good Morning, Sunshine" and giving you a kiss on your nose when you wake him/her up one morning.
- Your kid telling you that his snot expulsion from a sneeze is still faster than Tim Lincecum's fastball.
- Young siblings conversing about how to structure a fairy house made out of twigs, leaves, buttons and flowers. And little cups so the fairies have swimming pools.
- Your preschooler trying to explain to you why he is upset because you didn't ask for a book nicely, you just took it, and that hurt his feelings.
- Your big kid trying to talk your little kid into doing something sneaky and it's so ridiculous that you have to see how it plays out because seriously, you want them to get away with it.
Do you remember first-time sounds -- beyond the newborn stage -- from your kids that made you smile?
