Sometimes, it’s easy to not see our kids when they’re little. They depend on you for everything, so most of the time your mind is preoccupied with how to keep them alive from day to day. You’re managing schedules, making grocery lists, keeping track of laundry, folding laundry, picking up laundry, OMG THERE’S ALWAYS SO MUCH LAUNDRY!!! The mental load of daily life fills up your head and you don’t realize that you’ve little space left for just… being. Sometimes, that means forgetting to turn all the other things off and just sitting down with your little guy, hanging out, doing nothing together.

Yesterday, I had the chance to do just that with Elon. This has become a rare opportunity since his little sister, Lana, came and joined our little family. The smallest member always requires the most attention, and this means I haven’t really had time with my favorite boy. Thankfully my husband has always been a doting father, so Elon’s love tank still gets filled everyday.

The weather was nice-  the breeze was cool and it was quiet out, so we decided to take a late afternoon walk to the park. Lana was sleeping peacefully in the sling (seriously guys, babywearing is a godsend), so Elon and I held hands while we walked. His assessment tests are coming up soon, so we incorporated some learning while we did. I pointed out house numbers and plate numbers, asked him to identify them, and to tell me if they were odd or even. It was a great way to incorporate learning into play, which always works better with him. Totally unplanned too. I love it when opportunities like that just come up!

When we got to the playground, we had the whole place to ourselves. “This is great mommy! It’s all ours!” he declared excitedly. He played on the slide, we went on the swings, he dug some sand, he pretended the whole place was his kingdom and he was king. And the whole time he chatted excitedly, barely stopping to breathe, talking to me nonstop about his ideas and asking all his questions, as if he was so glad to finally have my attention all to himself.

I tried to indulge him as much as I could. We talked about all the different things he wanted to invent- my favorite of which is his Big Machine of Love. He says he wants to make a machine that hits people and makes them even more in love. Everyone will love everyone, he said. I told him that this was the best idea in the entire universe. And I wasn’t lying.

After all his sand digging and swing-flying, it seemed like he was ready to go. “Mommy, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” he said to me as I looked up at the sky. It was getting dark, so I said “I’m thinking it’s time for us to go, it’s almost nighttime.” “That’s what I was going to say!” he said excitedly. He took my hand, and we walked back home, all the while identifying odd and even numbers, jumping over puddles, and talking about all his future inventions. Just me and my favorite little boy.