Boogie Shoes...

Yesterday afternoon, I read an article, "10 Ways to show your kids you love them" by Prototype Mama. My first thought after reading the title was, well I hope Christopher knows I love him. I iron his clothes for school every morning. I make his lunch. I make sure he doesn't leave with dried slobber at the corners of his mouth. I sit with him and explain his homework in the afternoons. We watch AFV for 30 minutes before its time for him to go to bed. I read a story from the bible to him on school nights. Surely he knows I love him. But all this is really just part of our everyday routine. It's just a reflection of my love for him,  but certainly not all of it are parts to enjoy. 

After reading the article, I decided to put a spin on our routine. I picked him up from school instead of having him ride the bus home. We went for ice cream and then went grocery shopping. We picked out some different things for his lunch to give him something new to look forward to. We bought the ingredients for his favorite dinner and headed home. Riding in the car we discussed black history and I gave him a run down of Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks and Jane Pittman.

When we got home, while he did his math homework, I found a free Kindle book about Harriet Tubman for us to read together. 

Of the 10 items on Prototype Mama's list, "Listen to their jams & jam out" was the one that resonated with me. I grew up in a household where music was played out loud all the time. No one was walking around with headphones in their ears. Whatever we were doing, together or separate, music was always playing. 

After we read a bit of the Harriet Tubman book, he proceeded to knock out his chores and I prepared to cook dinner. I decided to turn on Pandora to the Kidz Bop station and we jammed out! 

We even did the Cha Cha slide. I enjoyed almost every song on his station until the chipmunks sang one of them. After we had our Kidz Bop jam session, I asked, "You wanna hear the song I use for my alarm clock?" I played Boogie Shoes and we jammed some more.

Here's the thing... this is time we spent together, that didn't cost us a thing or hinder our routine. I couldn't have asked for greater love in return when this morning Christopher said, "Mom, I had fun last night."

I love you too, son.