Missed!!

One of the things I am learning from my son, albeit slowly, is the pleasure to be derived from staying in the moment. Not thinking about what happened five minutes ago, or what needs to get done next, but just enjoying the now. None of this washing-the-dishes-to-get-them-done business for Liam. He's all about the splashing, and the suds, and the rinsing, and sometimes it's a sad event to run out of dirty dishes.

At any rate, he devised a game he calls "Pounce". The game is played by lobbing balls of different sizes on top of an overturned flower pot and then listening for the different sounds of the balls making contact with the pottery. The name of the game apparently derives from an idea of Liam's - he sees balls "pouncing" on the flowerpot.

As you may imagine, a sizeable number of the balls never come anywhere near the pot, and instead end up snagged by Casey. This does not bother Liam, who happily shouts "Pounce!" when a ball hits the flowerpot, and "Miss!" when the ball misses. The fun is in playing the game, not in the outcome.

I need to cultivate my inner two-year-old, to worry less about what's supposed to happen and focus more on what is happening. Maybe even become less of a perfectionist. It's a tall order.