A lesson from my 2-year-old

On the heels of a wonderful lesson from my wife Sunday night, I received another great lesson from my little boy yesterday morning.  As we were heading out the door to do our regular morning thing, he grabbed his little push- cart and ran out the door with it.  So I surrendered to the moment and let him walk it to the coffee shop. When he takes the cart, I have to be prepared for many detours - Jake is a natural-born explorer.  On our way home, it occurred to him that he'd like to get home and watch Toy Story 2, one of his favorites.  So he stopped the cart and stood still on the sidewalk while giving full voice to his request.  "Two!" meant that he wanted to watch Toy Story 2.  "Buzz!" was that he wanted to see Buzz Lightyear, while holding onto his own Buzz action figure.  "Vwooky!" was Woody.  "Vex!" was Rex.  Jake would not proceed forward - he stood still as a statue - until I heard him, repeated what he said back to him, and smiled with affirmative understanding all the way through to the completion of his full request.  Then and only then would he walk forward, and with a big, self-satisfied grin.  We went through that exercise about 10 times (the number of times it took me to fully surrender) on our short block-and-a-half walk home. 

What a great lesson in how to take the time to be clear about your requests of others, confirm their understanding, and revel in the relatedness that clarity produces.  Doesn't it just make so much sense in our relationships with other people that we commit not to move forward until both of us emphatically (and happily) agree specifically on what's been requested and committed to?  I have a feeling that we wouldn't spend so much time afterwards blaming each other for why things didn't happen according to our expectations.  Ah, the simple and straightforward wisdom of a 2-year-old, taking whatever time it takes to get clear.  We knew this when we were 2, forgot it somewhere along the way, and spent many years suffering through disappointment and frustration that comes with trying it our own way, until we remembered it again.  Thanks for the reminder, Jake.