Chipmunk Cheeks and the Uptight Mom

A lesson is some times best learned when least expecting a lesson. 

My son has been my greatest teacher.  I haven’t always been open to the idea that I possibly could learn something from someone who has been on this earth for but a moment (and am definitely certain I can’t learn anything from someone older, but that is a different blog) but on those days I am least suspecting, bam!, upside the head.

He had an exceptionally annoying habit as a toddler of storing food in his cheeks.  I don’t know what in particular bothered me, but it did. It really, really did. 

My son safely in his car seat, I was preparing to back out of my parking space and noticed in the rearview mirror that my son had the largest bulge in his cheeks…Dammit, dammit, dammit…how do I impress upon him how upsetting this was?  Should I throw out the “starving children somewhere in the world” and riddle him with guilt, should I scare him with “your face will freeze that way”, should I feign disgust and pretend to wretch…what?  The sheer frustration overwhelmed me. I threw my arms up and nearly at the top of my lungs, not quite at the top, I yelled, “How many times do I have to ask you? What more can I say to you?  I am so tired of asking you to swallow your food.  I am so TIRED of asking you.”  And with the calmest of dispositions, and with the ultimate sense of satisfaction, he shrugged with his two little hands in the air and said, simply, “then quit asking.” 

My hands, white from gripping the steering wheel, loosened and the color returned to my fingers.  I sat there staring ahead, not a sound from the back seat, and with a deep breath took in his innocent words.  He was right. He was right.  The issue was mine.  And, I will tell you, from that moment on, I never again asked him, and I never again noticed if he stored his food in his cheeks. 

I am not sure what the lesson was, but what I took away from this experience is that these itty bitty annoyances can seep into your very heart and cloud your vision., prevent you from appreciating the moments that inspire, the very moments that can teach…and that my kid just might be smarter than me!