Enjoying the little things

People always talk about how little kids have so much wonder for the world. And it's true. But it seems like that observation is usually followed up with some sort of sappy advice like "Enjoy the simple things! A butterfly landing on a flower. The gentle gurgle of a river. A delicious popsicle on a lovely summer day." etc. (Speaking of which, this is such a good idea. Maybe I'd actually buy popsicles if I had one of these. I HATE sticky boy hands.)

Anyway, I don't know what kids those people are watching, but with my boys, the things they enjoy are not the "wow-look-at-how-adorable-this-little-boy-and-girl-dressed-in-grownup-clothes-and-kissing-in-a-country-lane-with-only-their-cheeks-tinted-pink-are;hoo-boy-if-only-life-were-that-simple-for-us-adults" kind, but rather these weird, obsessive little things you'd never even think to enjoy as an adult. Like at our house, the best part of laundry day is when I turn on the dryer. It emits these little chimes as you choose the settings (really, it's so cheerful, it reminds me of those doors in "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy"---the ones that sigh with pleasure every time they get opened) and as soon as Abe and Seb hear that, they go running for the back door. The dryer vent goes out onto the back porch, and it has these little white slats on it that open up when the dryer goes on. Somehow the boys discovered that, and they love to sit outside and watch them open and close.

Sometimes Seb has sat there for a whole load, waiting so he can see the slats close again. He calls them "white things," and every time we're giving someone the tour of our house he says to them, "We have a dryer vent at our new house! And white things! I yuv the white things! Do you want to see them?" (I don't think most people ever figure out what he's talking about.) When we drive around the neighborhood, Sebby will ask about all the houses, "Does that house have a dryer vent and white things?" Abe and Seb play "Washer and Dryer and Dryer Vent" (their name for it), which is a game where they make washers and dryers out of boxes and spin their hands around and make "Vvvvvv"-ing noises, and then hum the little tune the dryer makes when it's done (yes, it has a little tune for that, too), and say, "The white things are closing!"

When they're waiting for the dryer to go on, I can see them out the window, and as soon as the slats start to open, they turn and give each other these excited, happy grins. Yes, I admit I'll sit there turning the dryer on and off and on and off, just to watch them smile about it (speaking of being too focused on your kids!). Today I took these pictures.