Right from the start we love to shower our kids with love, attention, and things of all shapes and sizes. After our first son was born I remember getting tons of gifts from family, friends, and co-workers. I would say the amount of gifts you get for a first born child almost rivals the amount you get when you get married. We almost had enough clothes for the first nine months of our son’s life. I say almost because no parent can resist buying those cute outfits when you come face to face with them in the store.?

You also wind up with enough baby toys for multiple kids to share. This comes in handy even with just one child because toys get thrown to the floor and the spare toys help quell that sense of fright you have about germs getting all over your kids. In the early stages, kids just play with whatever you put in their hands, and playing can be a simple as staring.

The fun for parents really begins when kids can start to manipulate the toys and experience for themselves the joy of opening gifts. I think the first time each of my kids opened a present my heart beat at near breakneck speeds. I was thrilled because I new what was coming, and they were going to be surprised. However, the surprise would become mine. When the wrapping paper fell away and the box had been removed from the toy, it wasn’t the toy they wanted, it was the box. So begins the journey.

There is something magical about a box to kids, and the bigger the better. I can remember all my kids first box like it was yesterday. The glee in their voice, the flash of joy in their eyes. Silly, you thought that excitement was for the toy you spent so much time thinking about at the store. It is humorous watching the person who takes the box off the toy and hands the toy to your child, only to have the items switched. It is my belief that a parent came up with the phrase “Think outside the box” when talking to their kids about presents.

If an arm or a leg is all that can fit into a box, then your child suddenly becomes part robot. This is hard wired into my kids, because each one immediately would stick a box on their arm and announce “I am robot, I am robot!” As suddenly as this occurs, the box is suddenly off the arm and either flying around the room as a spaceship or racing across the floor as a race car. Perhaps it even becomes a flying space car, but it is best not to question this innovation. Soon the crayons come out, depending on their age, and their invention takes shape in the form of lines and swoops of all lengths and colors.

With a slightly bigger box, and either a smaller sibling or a small pet, you child becomes a greater hunter and the box is the trap. Assuming your head is roughly the same size as one of the boxes, you will find as you sit in your chair the world becomes dark and you are now an astronaut. “What does it look like in outer space daddy,” they exclaim, to which I respond “I see stars.” This is more a practical response than a creative one if the box got jammed on your head, as tend to happens, and you really do see stars.

Once you get into the boxes that actually fit you child into them, you have achieved a certain level of awesomeness. Your standard box doesn’t move by itself, but that doesn’t stop your child from speeding around the world. One scene that plays out in our household that really makes me laugh is when my kids assume the tornado drill position, you know all hunched over and hand over the head, and they exclaim “You can’t see me!” When the box is so big you really can’t see them inside, their world is complete. They now have their own fort in the jungle, or a Lunar Space Lander. You get out the utility knife and cut out doors, windows, portals, and more. Flowers, trees, pipes, and other decorations appear all over the sides.

Eventually the toys they got get worked into their new box universe, but the box is still at the center. Don’t get me wrong, my kids love their toys and are grateful for what they get, they just love exploring the world “inside the box”. As a final note I would like to caution you if you have not gone through this experience. The fun doesn’t end with just the box in the complete form. Don’t be surprised if you reach in your pocket only to find cardboard coins and not the ones your can use in the vending machine. Also, don’t break their hearts when you sit down for dinner to a place setting made of last years box, just find a way to eat off the creation. The more you think “inside the box”, the more creative you just might become.

Our first piano recital!

There is nothing more peaceful than a sleeping child. You watch your kids go full steam all day long and you wonder how can such a small person have some much energy. When they are sleeping you can’t help but be in awe at how peaceful they become. When you go in their rooms to make sure they have enough covers on them, you just sit there and all your worries melt away with each breath they take. Serenity sets in it would seem.

Of course kids are as predicable as life itself, and they don’t always fall asleep in their beds. Perhaps you have a long car ride and they just can’t keep their eyes open any longer. Perhaps you had a long day and just wanted a family movie night on the couch, only to find sleep came calling. Whatever it may be, you find your little one has fallen asleep and you need to move them into their bed. Caution is suggested, for you know not what will happen until it is to late.

The first thing you find out when kids are asleep, they weigh two to three times more than when awake. This could be explained by the scientific phenomenon whereby when awake a kids’ body is more fluid, but when asleep the fluid solidifies and increases in mass and density. I haven’t proven this theory yet but if you have ever carried a sleeping child you know what i am talking about. Of course if you don’t compensate for this variable you may find yourself in a free fall while trying to keep them asleep.

When kids are small they make all sorts of cute little noises, like humming, which makes it all the more difficult to put them down. As their language starts to develop, the sleeping conversations get even more interesting. It usually happens on more than one occasion during the week I am moving my kids either into their beds or taking them to the bathroom during the night. It never fails that my two oldest boys talk to me as if I was their brother playing with something they want. The sleep talking isn’t always triggered by movement, sometimes it just comes out of nowhere. I find myself just inches from picking them up and they start talking and moving about. Then there are times in the middle of the night when kids will just start screaming. I run into their rooms and try to calm them down only to find that no matter what I say or do they won’t wake up. So you play along with what they are saying and convince their sleeping mind everything is just fine.

Weight lifting and late night conversations provide comedic situations, but that is not all kids do while their sleeping. It never fails while moving one of my kids from the car, the couch, or the other various places they fall asleep a physical reaction occurs. While carrying one of my sons to the bathroom I walk through the door of his room and as I do he senses he is moving and his hand shoots out and grabs the door frame. This instantly stops me dead in my tracks and I have to adjust the distribution of his weight as to not drop him and more importantly keep me from falling on top of him. The funniest incident happened while I was taking my 6 year old to the bathroom. I was helping him get his pants down when he suddenly decide to attempt a head first dive into the toilet. As I put my arms around his chest and my hand on his forehead to keep him from completing his decent he lifted his foot and tried putting it in the toilet. I saved his foot, but I fell into a fit of laughter, all while he kept on sleeping.

I can not even begin to share the humor that is played out in moving sleeping children, but I know if you have kids you have experienced this on more than one occasion. A sleeping child can provide the moments of peace we all seek during our hectic days. Then again, a little comedy and hearty laughter are just as good in boosting the spirits.