There is a Gaither song in the Christian repertoire that has a line, “How sweet to hold a new born baby...” It gathers deeper meaning and magnifies your feelings when you have a child or grandchild. Suddenly you own it.
That is true but momentary. Life has a way of being unsentimental. Sooner or later that bundle of joy becomes a drooling, burping, squirming, screaming bucket of “I want my real mommy.” It has been fun watching my son try to fulfill the uncle role without getting a drop of slobber on him. He is one of those people who always washes his hands after he holds a baby. Germs, you know.
While in Japan we had a moment when my granddaughter returned her last two meals to us while strapped in a car seat between me and my daughter. It just kept coming. What was fascinating was the calm look on the child’s face. She never cried or got upset, she just kept barfing. I wondered where she had stored it all. For breakfast she had enjoyed oatmeal spiced with cinnamon. That was the main smell of the moment. I am not sure I will ever be able to enjoy oatmeal with cinnamon again.
We pulled over and three adults tried to clean it all up. I have to hand it to the kid, she kept it all in the car seat. Not once in the entire event did she get upset except when we tried to change her clothes.
The joys of being a grandparent. Fortunately my son was in the front seat or he might never hold a baby again.
homo unius libri
Tell me about it. My 8 month old grandson can't seem to hold his meals inside either, and spews them forth with no warning. My daughter gets upset when I say he's "barfing", as opposed to the more genteel "spitting up".
ReplyDeleteWell, there are time when it is fun to pick descriptive words to get the reaction. Of course we need to be careful lest we be banned from the house.
DeleteGrace and peace