Raising Richmond: The little things we love
With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, we thought it only appropriate to let the lovey-doveyness spill over here a little bit. So tell us: What are the little things you love about your kids?
Editor’s note: Today’s feature is the newest installment of our parenting column written by two sets of Richmonders: Jorge and Patience Salgado (veteran parents of four gorgeous children), and Ross and Valerie Catrow (parenting rookies who have only been doing this “raising a child thing” for a little while). Check back fortnightly to watch them discuss/agree/disagree/throw down over all kinds of parenting issues, Richmond-related and beyond.
With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, we thought it only appropriate to let the lovey-doveyness spill over here a little bit. So…
Today’s question: What are the little things you love about your kids?
Patience Salgado
Life and especially parenting is made up of a million tiny moments that somehow make everything add up. The pieces all together expose how rich and deep life (and love) really is.
Here are my tiny pieces of love at the moment:
I love eavesdropping on my boys’ (ages 7 and 9) play dates during the joke telling portion of the day. You’ve never heard so many knock-knock and fart jokes in your life. Giggling is my favorite.
I love Lucy’s (age 4) recent collection of family portraits. We are very scary alien-looking people holding hands.
I love how Jack (age 7) shrinks the dog after I yell at him. “It’s ok boy, you’re not always in the way.”
I love how Josiah (age 9) always wants to go on errands with me so we can talk about Legos and video games alone in the car.
I love Lyra’s coy and very I-know-I’m-the-baby smile when she is doing something she knows she shouldn’t. It came directly from her baby-of-the-family father.
I love Jack’s killer wink and how he always puts his hands in his pockets when we go somewhere new.
I love Josiah’s very intentional nurture of Lyra. His constant watchful eye and care has given them a deep bond.
I love Lucy’s serious love of shopping. She can look at clothes and shoes for hours; it’s like being with your best girlfriend, except she’s four.
I love the collective music love of The Beatles and Queen from all the children in the house. They request both bands on a regular basis.
I love Jack’s request for a special drink (sparkling juice in the wine bottle) at every grocery shopping trip. He isn’t fazed when I tell him it is only for special occasions — he still insists we toast to something at every dinner.
I love Lyra’s conversation. I feel like I’m living with a foreign national, no clue what she’s saying but this does not hinder her in the least. Kid talks all day long.
I love the entire family’s need to be in the same 250 square feet. Our house for six people is around 1200, and yet I swear we could live in a 700 square foot flat in London and be happy as clams.
Valerie Catrow
Like every parent, the love I have for our son JR is very big. It catches me off guard and is still something that I can’t quite wrap my head around. As big as my love for him is, I feel it most often in the little things about him, the bits of personality that pop up every now and then. Here are just a few:
I love how he is so brave when it comes to being around new people. He jumps right in without missing a beat.
I love how he smiles at strangers, even when they’re not looking at him.
I love his level of focus when filling and emptying containers. His precision reminds me very much of his engineer grandfather.
I love that “uh-oh” is a woeful “ruh-rohhhhh.”
I love how he brushes off his hands when he gets dirt or sand on them.
I love that he can hold his own with our two big, dumb dogs now.
I love how he still thinks that cows say “Boooooooo.”
I love that eating pretzels while looking out the window is his favorite pastime.
I love his new habit of humming when I hold him like he’s a baby.
I love how he calls all things blanket-like “Bee-bees.”
I love the brief pause he takes before saying “Mama.” And the smile he cracks as he says it just kills me.
I love that he uses “Whoa” appropriately.
I love how he goes from being dead asleep to talking a mile a minute in 0.3 seconds. Just like his dad.
I love how he’s still a bit of a mystery to us, surprising us every day, leaving us in constant anticipation of what who he’ll become and what he’ll show us next.
Now it’s your turn…
Tell us little things you love about your kids.
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Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
I love how my boy’s love of Star Wars is unfettered by the fact I won’t let him see the movies until he is older, a fact made obvious by his playtime battle cries of “Darth Vader to the RESCUE!” and his love of the character “Jennifer Greivous”.
And it’s cheesy, but when I tuck him in I often ask him how out of all the boys in the whole wide world, how did I get the best one? One day we had a difficult evening, cranky all the way from dinner to bedtime, and I was ready to just come downstairs and get a glass of wine, when he said “Mommy?” and I (impatiently) said “WHAT?” and he said “out of all the mommies in the whole wide world, how did I get the best one?”
I MELTED.
I love this idea! And I’m totally stealing it for my blog. Here’s the start of my soon-to-be much longer lists…
I love that Luke (age 3) knows how to use those big blue eyes to his advantage.
I love that after two bites of any meal (even breakfast), Luke announces, “I want something for dessert!”
I love Luke’s belly laugh and the plea to “do it again!” that immediately follows.
I love that Luke loves to take a bath and go to bed by 7:30 every night.
I love Josie’s (4 mos.) wild mess of curls.
I love when Josie smiles so big that her whole body moves.
I love that when I take Josie out of her crib, she grabs on tight and snuggles up into my neck.
I love that Josie holds my hand when she falls asleep in my arms.
I love it how Caroline (4) goes out of her way to tell me what a good mom I am. The other day I was wiping the baby’s nose and you’d have thought I was torturing him. Caroline overheard me tell him over his cries of protest, “I know..I’m sorry I’m such a bad mommy!” She ran into the room and said, “No you’re not mommy! You are the bestest mommy the world’s ever had!”
Made my whole month.
I also love how she dances….she’s just like Elaine on Seinfeld…cracks us up.
Wait…can’t forget about my baby (7 months.)
I love that he has such a robust sense of humor already. He’ll purposefully make funny noises and faces just to make me laugh. He’ll squeal and grunt and then he’ll pause and look at me to see how I’ll react. When I do react with a smile or a comment, he cracks up. It’s so cute!
If I can give both my kids a healthy sense of humor about life and themselves, then I’ll feel good about my job as a parent.
i love how these lists make me a bit weepy-eyed.
(i don’t have children.)