Toy Story 3 & Blueberry Waffles

Saturday morning rolls around and in pops my little guy, “Mom! I’m starving! Can you make me breakfast this morning please?” As I stretch and come to, I hear Toy Story 3 blaring from the living room surround-sound system.

“MOM! Hurry! I’m starving!” he shouts again and jumps on my bed.

This time, I sit there and smile. Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve lived this moment. See, my oldest is in high school and most of the time, I’m lucky if he’s home or is even up by noon. The sounds of my little guy and Toy Story 3 make me realize that time is flying past me. It reminds me of that poem that talks about missing handprints on the walls, dirty carpets, blaring cartoons, etc. Yup, I’m walking out in that. Maybe, too, it’s the hurry on Saturday mornings of getting to football games - a huge sign that my baby is growing up again. Whatever it is, I gladly get up to see the blueberry waffles sitting on the island with a little 7 year-old relying on me so much that he is saying, “I’m so hungry I could die. Really, Mom.”

So the blueberry waffles go into my red toaster oven and the smell of blueberry fills the house. All I hear from the living room is, “To infinity and beyond! Woody! You lost your hat!” I turn to realize he has dug his Toy Story figures out of his room and is imitating Andy on Toy Story, playing in his own little, imaginary world. “MOM! Come watch Toy Story with me!” he screams over the volume 43 on surround sound, and I am immediately captivated by watching HIM play more than the movie. So I put my phone on silent, set it on the counter and sit down, smiling from ear to ear and remembering that not very often does Riley play with his toy figures. Not very often does he even care for me to sit down with him.

Because see, God blessed me with two very different boys. Reagen, my oldest who is in high school, still would prefer for us to curl up in a blanket together (just like me!) and Riley, well not so much (just like daddy!). He often wonders WHY I’m even in the same room he is because he can’t remember calling me in there to ask me a question or a favor. How I miss the couch time with a blanket! Sometimes I wonder if God is de-codependency-ing me from MYSELF. So, Toy Story came to the end of the movie (somebody forgot to remind me that I need a box of tissue!). WOW!!! MY ANDYS ARE GROWING UP! Yes, I sobbed like a baby while answering, “Mom why are you crying?” 40 times and thinking all the while, Baby, you won’t understand today. Instead, I answer, “Because Andy is all grown up.” I am sure that Riley doesn’t realize that I’m not crying about Andy; I’m crying about MY ANDY, aka “Riley,” growing up. Only my heart, my soul, my mind, and my GOD could ever understand that.

MY ANDYS ARE GROWING UP.

I enjoy every second of the three hours it takes us to get through two blueberry waffles, 1.3 million examples of how Buzz Lightyear works and what Woody is about, 3.4 billion “rewind it!” and 987 “Did you see that?!?! Let’s watch that again! Watch, Mom, watch!” Oh what a warm heart I have. It’s not that Riley doesn’t want to sit with me on the couch. Maybe he just wants me to engage is HIS world. Learning and understanding his love language as he gets older is making for such a special bond between the two of us. Because I can walk out in ONE and 2, I am able to engage completely is HIS world. He LOVES movies, he LOVES telling stories, and he LOVES me reading to him. Just don’t touch him or cuddle. I’m ok with that. I will take what I can get, knowing that he, too, was specially designed just like that from the same Maker who made me.

So, I encourage you, live in THEIR world for a moment. LOVE on them the way THEY receive love. SIT DOWN and check in for a moment. TURN OFF your phone and engage. All of our ANDYS are growing up, and someday, we will WISH we had that moment of Toy Story 3 and blueberry waffles, again. And as always, remember, the life you are living right now is from the seeds you have sown.

LOVE YOU.