Snips and Snails

Well, it's been a busy one-of-those-Mondays around here, but I didn't forget about my Monster.  I'm barely making it, but it's still Monday.

Right now is the rainy season here on Okinawa (don't come visit me in May).  Apparently this means torrential downpours for a few weeks, then a transition into summer.  Boo for pouring rain everyday (although I'm guessing that it's responsible for the lushness of the place).  Yay for summer (and the beach!) being just around the corner!  Anyway, with the rain comes the emerging of anything that wants to live out of the grass and onto our patio or onto or into our homes.  Foot-long earth worms, cockroaches the size of my hand, millions of ants, and snails.  Dozens and dozens of snails.  Adam finds them fascinating, for some reason beyond my comprehension.  Why would a little boy that moves constantly at the speed of light be so enamored with a snail?  Maybe that's just it.  Maybe he doesn't understand how anything could move so slowly.  I mean, for Adam, crawling and walking were just stepping stones to running.  He only crawled for about two months before he walked and he only walked for about five minutes before he ran.  But, here he is, amazed.  He'll pull those snails off the wall and line them up to race.  A snail race!  What on earth could be more boring??  But he sits.  And he watches.  And he puts one back on track if it strays (that snail doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of escaping).  So the other day he was on our patio, watching the snails, and he calls to me:  "Mommy!  You wanna come watch this snail with me?  It's about to move!"  "No, thanks!" I replied.  And I went about my "busy" day. 

But, you know what?  I should have gone and watched that snail get ready to move.  I should have stopped whatever it was I was doing and done that.  Because sometimes watching a snail almost move with your three year old is just what you need to do.  Rather, it's just what they need you to do.  Lately I've been a little caught up in what I need (haircut, pedicure, curtains for the living room, paint for the babies' room...) and I've failed to give my children everything they need.  I mean, I've covered the basics.  They're warm and fed and clothed and loved, but nothing extra.  And I sit and wonder why they aren't happy babies or why we're getting bad reports from Adam's preschool.  I wonder what I'm doing wrong.  It finally occurred to me that it's not what I am doing that's wrong - it's what I'm not doing. 

So the blogs may be less frequent, and will likely be posted at midnight, after babies are fed and back to bed and Adam's in bed and tomorrow's lunch is made.  And my facebook page might not have a new status update every hour.  But my babies will get plenty of tummy time and story time and stimulation.  And my Adam will teach me all about snail races and tell me what he did at school.  Tomorrow is Tuesday and Tuesdays are "Adam and Mommy" days, so I can't wait to see what's in store.