Quality (not necessarily relaxing) Time

Spring is in the air... (Kind of) It's finally getting to the point where it is nice enough out to get out and enjoy the outdoors. It's also the time of year to get things ready for the summer. The other day, I went out to clean out the garage and take care of a few other things... with some "help."

Once I got the cars pulled out of the garage, I brought Brevin outside to "help" me in the garage. He was super excited to help daddy out, which was great to see. We started with doing a bit of sweeping, daddy with the big push broom and Brevin with his little broom from his cleaning play set... It became apparent very quickly that he really didn't understand the idea of sweeping everything into a big pile... He must have thought that the objective was to spread things out, rather than push them together. To be totally honest, initially it was a tad bit annoying and frustrating, and definitely tested my patience... But after a few minutes of sweeping when he turned to me and said, "I am helping daddy sweeping!" I couldn't help but chuckle a bit about the "help" that he was so gracious to offer. The fact that he was so pleased to help out was encouraging to see and I realized how important it was, despite my frustrations and added time to complete a simple task, that I build him up for his assistance, and use it instead as a teaching opportunity... I showed him how to make a pile, and that was entertaining for him... for about two minutes.

Once we finished the sweeping, we got the bike tires filled with air and then turned to the new grill assembly... It is surprising that in the end there weren't any missing screws or bolts... He thought putting the grill together was the coolest thing ever... and it certainly was, because his face was filled with joy, and yet again mine was trying to maintain its composure between wanting to break out in laughter one minute and tears of frustration the next.

This four hour experience in the garage with B-Rev will be a long-lasting treasured memory of mine. While I had a free minute of him being on task or distracted and playing with one of his toys, I couldn't help but think to a book that I recently started reading called "The Five Love Languages." It suggests that there are five possible ways people feel love: quality time, physical touch, words of affirmation, acts of service, and gifts. During those four hours, I quickly realized that Brevin definitely has quality time as one of his top love languages. He really could care less what we are doing, as long as there is interaction between us. Now that I know this, it makes me even more excited to take him on a "father-son" camping trip later this year. It will definitely be an experience that will fill his heart and mine with love for one another.

I hope all is well with everyone and hope to see you soon...

Heath