Saying Goodbye to Very Young Children

They will not be the same next time. The sayings
so cute, just slightly off, will be corrected.
Their eyes will be more skeptical, plugged in
the more securely to the worldly buzz
of television, alphabet, and street talk,
culture polluting their gazes' pure blue.
It makes you see at last the value of
those boring aunts and neighbors (their smells
of summer sweat and cigarettes, their faces
like shapes of sky between shade-giving leaves)
who knew you from the start, when you were zero,
cooing their nothings before you could be bored
or knew a name, not even your own, or how
this world brave with hellos turns all goodbye.

John Updike

Enjoy your children while they're children. They'll grow all too soon.

This was why I stopped work when I had Megan. There were many reasons for doing so, but one of the most important was that I didn't want to miss a minute of her infancy and early childhood.

She will start full time school in September (I know I'm going to cry) and I'm already wondering where the last four years have gone. But as much as it has been an incalculable joy watching her grow, I've also watched her become a person.

I can't tell what person she'll grow into. I have no idea at this time what her likes and dislikes will be or the fads and fancies she'll get into.

All I can say for sure is that she will always be my daughter, and no matter what tears or laughter that brings, I'll always love her unconditionally and without reservation.

Kids eh? Who'd 'ave 'em..?