As a writer and somebody who thinks about things, I love to watch my grandson’s brain working. At age three when he doesn’t have a mastery of language and he’s still learning new words, you can see him thinking about things. Thinking how to say things, how to describe what he’s seeing. It’s fascinating. Not to mention how easily he remembers everything you’ve said to him.
Like this morning we were petting the cat and talking about how the cat could use his claws to climb up a tree; how the dog had claws too but didn’t have the sort of claws to climb up a tree. He had just learned that information during the last time we talked about the cat and he was eager to show me his new knowledge. He demonstrated with his arms and hands how the cat would climb up the tree. He repeated it two or three times.
He searches for words to describe what he wants to say. He’s so eager to learn and know more. There’s so much in the world that fascinates him. I love for him to ask why about very simple things we take for granted. Why does water come out of the faucet? Why does the pan get too hot to touch? Why is the floor slippery if you spill oil on it? Why does the cat have softer fur than the dog? So many things in the world to wonder about…
We grown-ups are so busy doing things and things are just something that’s there to help us do what we want to do – the water comes out of the faucet so we can fill up the teapot or brush our teeth. If the oil spills on the floor, we need to clean it up. When the pan gets hot enough we’ll melt butter and cook our omelette. We live in a utilitarian universe. We rarely wonder why any more. We rarely even think about the world we’re living in. We busily try to find other worlds – in the newspaper, in a book, on the television, on the computer. What about the world existing around us? The very simple, solid, here it is now world that grabs Brandon’s attention at every moment.
How my heart comes alive as I live the day with him, moment by moment. Last night he pointed through the skylight at the moon shining above – magic – it’s magic and it’s right in our lives, right now, with us.
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