Creating Margin with a Child

With all of life's daily activities and obligations pulling us, often times in different directions, it is hard to take time to slow down and relax.

Every day is go-time when Daniel wakes up until he goes to sleep. I often recall our interview with his nutritionist just before we met him. She described Daniel as active, and then as if to emphasize just how active, she made hand gestures as though a child were climbing up over her shoulder and around her neck. Yeah, that active.

During the fall, Thanksgiving and Christmas times, we were either traveling, committed to some sort of activity or had family in town. The next thing we knew, we were spit out into 2012 and nearly through with January before we caught our breathes.

Which brings me to the point of this blog post. We are going to try making a more conscious effort to create margin in our schedules to relax, slow down and enjoy not doing anything.

It's a Biblical principle. God rested after probably the most productive week in history. Christ began his ministry with 40 days alone in the desert and frequently pulled back from the crowds to pray either alone or with his closest disciples.

And so, we want to follow our Lord's example as best we can.

What are the benefits of creating margin? For one, it will permit us to rest; the value of which shouldn't be under estimated. Secondly, we'll be able to spend more focused time with Daniel at one of the most crucial times of his development. Instead of filling our schedules with fluff, we intend to be deliberate in our interactions with him.

God has blessed us beyond our imaginations with placing Daniel into our lives. He is our answered prayer and it seems incredibly short-sighted to let life's distractions prevent us from being intentional with how we raise our son. At least on the weekends, for starters, no more frivolous Facebook, work email, twitter, etc competing with play time with Daniel.

For example, on Friday I left work early to pick Daniel up from day care. We visited a park on the way home. The weather felt like spring time instead of the typical freezing January temperatures. We walked on the dirt path until we came to a small wooden bridge that crossed a babbling creek.

There Daniel plopped himself down on the bridge with his legs pointing straight ahead. He loved watching the water. I noticed a bunch of pebbles by the foot of the bridge and gave one to Daniel to see if he would throw it into the creek.

Surprisingly, he didn't know what to do; so I took a rock and tossed it into the creek. Splash! Daniel grinned. I gave him another rock and he mimics my motion. The only problem was he didn't release the rock. So I repeated the example. Again, he mimics me but holds on to the rock. The third time I lead his hand and flick the rock out of it and watch it sail through the air and land into the water. 

Yeah! At this point, he understands how to throw the rock into the water. I hand him rocks one-by-one and he throws them into the water. We repeat this for a few minutes before continuing down the trail. 

The fact I actually taught him how to throw a rock into the creek really struck me. That's a skill, if you want to call it that, he will use the rest of his life. In fact, he'll improve on it and one day be able to skip the rock across the water. 

We never would have gone to the park if we hadn't created the time to do so. I would have missed out on that moment for who knows how long. How many other awesome moments and life lessons are just waiting to be experienced and learned?

I don't know, but we're going to make the time to find out. I promise.

Our 1st Family Vacation

Daniel knew something was special every time mommy exclaimed, "Nos vamos a vacaciones!"

On short notice, we decided to take advantage of the fact  Claudia would be off on Martin Luther King's day and go on a long weekend vacation to Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg, TN. We rented a cabin, packed the SUV and headed out on the three and a half hour drive.

Periodically we'd chant, "Nos vamos a vacaciones!" Daniel would smile from ear to ear and clap his hands.

If you've never been to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, then you are missing one of the country's great treasures. Nestled at the foothills of the Smokey Mountains, this area has a lot of Southern charm mixed in with Vegas-style show business. Instead of the a King's Arthur Court and buffet, there is a lumber jack duel show. Instead of the Blue Man Group, there is the Hatfield & McCoy's Family Feud and buffet. With almost 9 million tourist visiting each year, this area has a lot to offer families.

At about nine p.m. we opened the door to the cabin. Daniel acted as though he was in heaven. It was wonderful to see his excitement. He could barely contain himself. With a huge smile, he clapped his hands and yelled, "Yeaaaa!"

He saw the couch, and yelled again. He went into the bathroom and saw the jacuzzi tub and yelled again. He pulled us by the hand to show us his discovery. "Pool," he exclaimed.

Despite the holidays only being a few weeks ago, we needed a break after a hectic start to 2012. It was also our first vacation as a family. We've taken a few road trips to visit family, but nothing by ourselves.

On Saturday we took Daniel to Ripley's Believe It Or Not Aquarium in Gatlinburg. At first he was a little nervous because of all the people and the large building. He clung to my arm tightly, but after a few minutes he warmed up to all of the sea critters.

We've discovered Daniel really enjoys animals. I guess that makes him a normal boy. Seeing all of the different fish, jellies and sting rays was a lot of fun for him. We had fun just watching him. He especially enjoyed the penguins' exhibit.

By the time we left, it was late afternoon. Within five minutes of being outside, Daniel was asleep in the stroller. We, however, were starving and grabbed a quick lunch at the nearby Mellow Mushroom.

The next morning we ate breakfast at one of the many pancake house restaurants in the area. It was your traditional Southern cooking complete with fruit topped pancakes, omelets and grits. While eating we noticed there was a Rainforest Zoo close by. Since we came without an agenda, we thought it'd be a great place to take Daniel.

Once again, Daniel was surrounded by a variety of exotic animals. This time it was lizards, frogs, parrots, poisonous snakes and a couple of porcupines.

He would waddle his way from one window display to another. Standing on his toes, he'd peer inside and enthusiastically wave to the animals. During the afternoon animal show, he touched a snake, toad, lizard and a couple of other things.

That afternoon we took a long nap. Daniel in his pack-n-go, and Claudia and I on the couch. It was a great afternoon.

The most popular activity for the 9 million tourist is shopping. That's not something we enjoy doing frequently. So, like the amateur shoppers we were, we headed to the Tanger Five Oaks Outlet Mall around 5 p.m. without realizing it was Sunday and stores closed at 6 p.m.

We strolled through The Children's Place for a few minutes and then one other store before calling it quits. Tanger Five Oaks is Tennessee's most successful mall in terms of annual sales and we were there for less than one hour.

Each night we watched a Toy Story movie with Daniel before putting him to bed. When it was just Claudia and I, we watched a couple of episodes of El Cartel de Los Sapos season two. It's a Colombian-based show about a drug cartel and one of my favorite series.

When dawn came on Monday it was hard to believe the trip was essentially over. We packed, ate and headed back to Nashville. The trip will go down as one of my favorite vacations so far. No plan. No stress. Lot's of time with my family uninterrupted. Perfect.