Hard to Focus?

I’m learning much about life from our toddlers. Who would have thought that two and three year olds would be such amazing real life examples? Kim is taking a little time off from mommie duty this am, so I’m watching the munchkins. I’ve always known that silence isn’t always good. This morning proved to be just such a time.

Our oldest asked if she could use the restroom. We are doing our best to “repotty” train her, so I was thrilled at the request. She usually prefers privacy so I wasn’t especially concerned when five minutes passed with no victorious cries of celebration. When we hit the ten minute mark though, I grew a bit concerned. Finding the door locked, I knew we were in trouble. Once I rehearsed my ninja lock picking skills (getting really good at that lately), I found a little lady drenched from head to toe standing in a sea of water. Of course she was thrilled with her achievement. She was washing her hands, at least that was the rational.

I was tempted to chuckle at her, but knew we needed to emphasize the innapropriateness of her work. As she wiped the floor with a towel, I saw how full her pull up was. That really fired me up. Not only had she made a mess, she hadn’t addressed the reason she asked to go to the potty in the first place. How many times do we adults do the same thing? We have a really pressing, deeply important task before us only to let something more exciting catch our eye.

As I start this new year there are many pressing issues before me. I’m going to do my best not to get distracted by the fun things and miss the really important things. How about you?