How Do Little Kids Grow Up?
We chronicle the cases: life by life, photo by photo, journal entry by journal entry.
Sunday to Monday, through the work or school week, and on to the weekend.
Weeks become months, months transform into years, and voila!
Adulthood.
Us parents observe the miracles: the pregnancy, the pushings within the womb, the sicknesses, the swelling. The doctor visits and sonograms, maybe a la Mauze class and books from the library or as presents from loved ones. "What to expect while expecting."
Hospital time and the magical drive home. Life is different with precious cargo.
The suckling child follows: the long, more pleasant days, the longer at times exasperating nights. But the baby does sleep restfully enough for life to be good and go on. Diapers and formula. The occasional sickness and the worried visit to the doctor. Baby's okay. Vaccines and medicines. Baby cries but she's okay. She is beautiful and her gurgles and smiles make us laugh. Even the messiest diapers... Yucky and gross, but still kinda cute. Like the slobber and mucous. The baby makes the grossest, cutest secretions. A goopy secretion machine. Like the pabulum spit up! Wonderful.
She gets packed up all the time: into the car seat, into the buildings and rooms where she sleeps, or at the beach or the board walk, at a restaurant or office. Baby is wrapped up and swaddled, peeking into the greater world of oohs and ahhs.
Baby sits up, raises her head. Rolls over! Crawls. Scoots. Climbs with her arms and legs. Takes steps and walks. Falls down. Gets up again. And falls down.
Eats all types of foods, ends up not liking some... Bananas? Spits up things. Cries, laughs, giggles, snores baby snores. Screams for the binky. The binky, aka chupon, i.e. the pacifier. Ahh, how it pacifies!
The baby becomes a toddler and begins to speak. Ours was understanding two languages, it took her longer to pronounce many words. Oh, she could dance to music, too.
She grows and grows, and likes things. She always liked the sand and the water at the beach. Pools and baths are nice. Water is good. Nice music by day and by night, and nice television shows and videos. Disney and a "whale of a tail". Teletubbies? On and on the shows keep coming.
The little girl dresses up for church. She is exposed to other grown ups. She goes to kindergarten. Her family moves around, and she gets her tonsils out. She gets quality time with her grandparents, in both Indiana and California. And cousins and aunts and uncles.
She grows and grows, learns to read and write. She plays with friends, tells stories and makes up worlds of her own. She travels and goes on trips, goes to different hotels and parks and cities.
She leaves primary school and goes to middle. She chooses an instrument and is dedicated. She learned piano at home. She helps with her little brothers and sisters.
She, this adolescent burgeoning human into adulthood, chooses her classes, takes her exams, sacrifices for homework and participates in all sorts of extra-curricular activities: sports, music, the arts, fun trips and educational forays. She chooses friends and hang outs, she attends church with her family and cohorts. She sings, she draws, she attends dances and parties and keeps on top of her studies. She stays up late, sometimes for school, sometimes for obsessive binge pleasures, sometimes for youthful indulgences.
She, unlike the generation before her and raising her, has a "smart phone". This device, a window into most of the known and dangerous universe, becomes a competitor to the peace of the home, at times, at least to the growing concerns of the parents. This is new ground, new territory, more nefarious and potentially sinister than a mere personal computer, competing for the Generation Xers for most of their adult lives.
Issues become known, discussed, debated, articulated, bantered about and considered. Friends show their stripes, they grow and change. Some move on, move away, move apart.
Some friends grow closer, including romances. Struggle for independence when it comes to bed time, phone time, car driving, one on one time with friends, and a few issues happen like that. Learning the privileges of driving are developed. Warm up a car prior to leaving on a cold or snowy day. Help your siblings and others be where they need to be. But, she, this newly groomed adult, has her definite strengths and virtues. She achieves impressive results with academics and grades, extracurricular performances and artistic endeavors, and is a very caring and involved sibling to her younger brothers and sisters. She also placates her parents and friends much of the time. She doesn't like to displease, bless her heart. She worked, she made money. She strove to learn a second language outside of school. Orale.
She was a fun and delightful baby, became a fun and delightful little person, and has now turned the legal age of adult, a peer among her elders, and is completely fun and delightful.
This, to me, is how this little kid grew up.
Different than me, different than you. Like you, and like me.
From baby to toddler to small child to growing teen to adult.
We grow up.
We cannot explain all of us, or fully explain one sole individual.
How do little kids grow up? With love, care, devotion, sacrifice, yes, a bunch of the will of the parents, and a ever progressing, give and take dialog with the creators of the being, this little dependent life that learns to walk, swim, read, run, play, worship, entertain, and work, share, cry, laugh, joy, sorrow, and grow.
She will continue to grow up. And we, the lucky observers and vested friends and family of this former little kid, "all grown up" but still maturing, will ask of her: how will you help us grow up?
We are so much, some more than others, little kids within aging minds and bodies.
Join the club, and do your best, little one.
Weeks become months, months transform into years, and voila!
Adulthood.
Us parents observe the miracles: the pregnancy, the pushings within the womb, the sicknesses, the swelling. The doctor visits and sonograms, maybe a la Mauze class and books from the library or as presents from loved ones. "What to expect while expecting."
Hospital time and the magical drive home. Life is different with precious cargo.
The suckling child follows: the long, more pleasant days, the longer at times exasperating nights. But the baby does sleep restfully enough for life to be good and go on. Diapers and formula. The occasional sickness and the worried visit to the doctor. Baby's okay. Vaccines and medicines. Baby cries but she's okay. She is beautiful and her gurgles and smiles make us laugh. Even the messiest diapers... Yucky and gross, but still kinda cute. Like the slobber and mucous. The baby makes the grossest, cutest secretions. A goopy secretion machine. Like the pabulum spit up! Wonderful.
She gets packed up all the time: into the car seat, into the buildings and rooms where she sleeps, or at the beach or the board walk, at a restaurant or office. Baby is wrapped up and swaddled, peeking into the greater world of oohs and ahhs.
Baby sits up, raises her head. Rolls over! Crawls. Scoots. Climbs with her arms and legs. Takes steps and walks. Falls down. Gets up again. And falls down.
Eats all types of foods, ends up not liking some... Bananas? Spits up things. Cries, laughs, giggles, snores baby snores. Screams for the binky. The binky, aka chupon, i.e. the pacifier. Ahh, how it pacifies!
The baby becomes a toddler and begins to speak. Ours was understanding two languages, it took her longer to pronounce many words. Oh, she could dance to music, too.
She grows and grows, and likes things. She always liked the sand and the water at the beach. Pools and baths are nice. Water is good. Nice music by day and by night, and nice television shows and videos. Disney and a "whale of a tail". Teletubbies? On and on the shows keep coming.
The little girl dresses up for church. She is exposed to other grown ups. She goes to kindergarten. Her family moves around, and she gets her tonsils out. She gets quality time with her grandparents, in both Indiana and California. And cousins and aunts and uncles.
She grows and grows, learns to read and write. She plays with friends, tells stories and makes up worlds of her own. She travels and goes on trips, goes to different hotels and parks and cities.
She leaves primary school and goes to middle. She chooses an instrument and is dedicated. She learned piano at home. She helps with her little brothers and sisters.
She, this adolescent burgeoning human into adulthood, chooses her classes, takes her exams, sacrifices for homework and participates in all sorts of extra-curricular activities: sports, music, the arts, fun trips and educational forays. She chooses friends and hang outs, she attends church with her family and cohorts. She sings, she draws, she attends dances and parties and keeps on top of her studies. She stays up late, sometimes for school, sometimes for obsessive binge pleasures, sometimes for youthful indulgences.
She, unlike the generation before her and raising her, has a "smart phone". This device, a window into most of the known and dangerous universe, becomes a competitor to the peace of the home, at times, at least to the growing concerns of the parents. This is new ground, new territory, more nefarious and potentially sinister than a mere personal computer, competing for the Generation Xers for most of their adult lives.
Issues become known, discussed, debated, articulated, bantered about and considered. Friends show their stripes, they grow and change. Some move on, move away, move apart.
Some friends grow closer, including romances. Struggle for independence when it comes to bed time, phone time, car driving, one on one time with friends, and a few issues happen like that. Learning the privileges of driving are developed. Warm up a car prior to leaving on a cold or snowy day. Help your siblings and others be where they need to be. But, she, this newly groomed adult, has her definite strengths and virtues. She achieves impressive results with academics and grades, extracurricular performances and artistic endeavors, and is a very caring and involved sibling to her younger brothers and sisters. She also placates her parents and friends much of the time. She doesn't like to displease, bless her heart. She worked, she made money. She strove to learn a second language outside of school. Orale.
She was a fun and delightful baby, became a fun and delightful little person, and has now turned the legal age of adult, a peer among her elders, and is completely fun and delightful.
This, to me, is how this little kid grew up.
Different than me, different than you. Like you, and like me.
From baby to toddler to small child to growing teen to adult.
We grow up.
We cannot explain all of us, or fully explain one sole individual.
How do little kids grow up? With love, care, devotion, sacrifice, yes, a bunch of the will of the parents, and a ever progressing, give and take dialog with the creators of the being, this little dependent life that learns to walk, swim, read, run, play, worship, entertain, and work, share, cry, laugh, joy, sorrow, and grow.
She will continue to grow up. And we, the lucky observers and vested friends and family of this former little kid, "all grown up" but still maturing, will ask of her: how will you help us grow up?
We are so much, some more than others, little kids within aging minds and bodies.
Join the club, and do your best, little one.
Read it to the family. The 22 year-old grew up heard it...
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