I've been working on a project that has me sifting through old journal entries. I just came across this one from two years ago, when Eli was coming towards the end of being age two and it made me happy to remember...
We splurged on a trip to Ici [ice cream shop] today. I don’t mind Eli having a little quality ice cream now and then. I also got pleasure from watching his pleasure with his little paper cup of chocolate ice cream. An older lady shared the indoor bench with us, and she seemed to like watching Eli too. She commented how tidy he was. That was true, but he still had goop all over his fingers when he was done. And he’d tipped up the cup to get every last drop, so he had a curve of melted ice cream around his mouth as well as some on his eyebrows from the cup’s rim. I zipped over to wet a napkin with the water pitcher provided for the customers, but I didn’t want Eli touching everything in those ten seconds. So on a whim, I said, “You know how we hold out our hands and wiggle them when we sing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’? Hold your hands out like that, please, until I get the napkin.” I’m just starting to pour some water when I hear Eli over my shoulder. A squeaky tot voice singing, “…How I wonder what you are….” I turned around just to watch my beautiful child in the soft afternoon light. He swayed slightly on the bench and twisted his outstretched hands to imitate flickering starlight. I glanced over at the older lady and she was watching, forgetting the spoonful of ice cream halfway to her mouth. The two serving ladies behind the counter stopped bagging peanut brittle to watch Eli too. “Aww! That is so sweet!” one of them crooned. He was oblivious. He sang the song through to the end and then smiled, reaching out for my napkin. My boy was magical for a few moments. It was like lighting a candle in a cold, dark room to have innocence and self-confidence flowing through the ice cream store in the middle of an ordinary afternoon.
Eli on the Cusp of Age Three
Comments