Mommy, we go zoo and the mall?

January 19, 2017

Yesterday morning, my oldest woke up and immediately (through immense giggling) asked, "Mommy, we go zoo and the mall?" The mall and the zoo? Of course my kid just asked to go to the mall and the zoo. He's so basic. My first response was 'no'. Sorry kid. There's too much to do at home today. The sink is full (both sides). The clothes need to be folded. I'm pretty sure the toilet is growing a new species of mold, and there are puffs on every inch of floor we own.

He was crushed. He resigned himself to his morning coffee and paper (apple juice and YouTube Kids on his tablet) and went to sit in his favorite chair. I text the husband to tell him about the morning's request. His response, "Well?" Of course that was his response.  He's as bad as the toddler. But, it got me to thinking. Maybe we should? No. Stop. Get this house in order! My brain kept shutting me down. I felt like that guy in the Disney animation short before Moana.

As my brain contined shutting me down, my heart kept looking at that toddler face. One day, that face won't be in that chair. One day, that will be the face of a man that won't need you to take him to the zoo. One day, he'll drive himself and leave your butt at home because you still have house work to do. At that moment, a dreary day turned into a day for an adventure. The clouds parted. Sunbeams began pouring into our living room windows. What little rain had fallen was now completely stopped. It's like God was saying...get up and go. He needs this. You need this.

An hour later, we were in the van headed to the zoo. You know what? It was ridiculously wonderful. The weather continued to be perfect. The smiles on both my boys' faces were smiles I'll never forget. Pure joy. "Let's go to the goats! Let's see the monkeys! Time for the carousel!" He was so excited. He was so good. He listened. Seriously...listened. When it came time to leave, he didn't even freak out. Woah.

Instead of the mall, we headed to Target. Target is anything but blissful when you're with a toddler and an infant, but we were already on an adventure - so what the heck. But again, I was stunned. It actually was blissful. I even got to walk through the clothes section. Granted, it was for like 3 minutes. But! It happened. He sang me songs. We chilled out at Starbucks. He ate some Peanut M&Ms. Pure joy again.

On the drive home, I realized I was euphoric -- and not just because of the last minute Chick-fil-A run before heading to the interstate. I thought to myself...I would have missed all of this to clean a toilet - to mop the floors - to dust some shelves. I would've missed smiles, songs, giggles, everything. I thanked God the whole way home. Sunbeams were still peaking through fluffy clouds. Despicable Me was playing over the van speakers. I was teary-eyed and thanking my Heavenly Father for reminding me to be a mother, not a housekeeper. My mind kept pulling to Psalm 118:24 - let us rejoice today and be glad. Amen!

Were both boys 100% perfect all day long? Absolutely not. But the day we had was perfect, and I will pray for a million more days just like it. My house is still dirty. I did manage the dishes and the clothes today. The rest will get done...eventually. :)