Alone with a new grandchild
Little Ben and I are having a staring contest. He will win. No one in the world can survive the gaze of a two-month-old baby. I wonder, for the umpteenth time, what is going through his head. Are you thinking of something?
Lines from a Henry Wadsworth poem come to mind by chance.
“The will of a child is the will of the wind and the thoughts of youth are very, very long thoughts.”
Most of us adults assume that the thoughts of a young baby are fairly well fixed on survival issues.
“Could someone feed me, change my diaper, or pick me up?” But maybe we are the ones who are myopic.
In many ways, we are all mysteries to each other. Could it be that this little baby is already evaluating us?
“Hmm! This face looks different from Mom’s. Her voice is deeper too. What the heck, she’s making faces at me. That’s a kick.”
“He’s hugging me a little awkwardly. It seems like he hasn’t held a baby in his arms in a while. But he smiles a lot. He seems to enjoy being with me.”
“I wonder a lot about things. Like, how did someone get me out of that sweet, warm place where I used to be? Well, it was getting a little tight there and I have to admit I was getting restless.”
Now that I am in this new world, I have to find out where I am going from here. What did that old man say? “” The will of a child is the will of the wind and the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts. “I have to think about that. I’m not sure what it means, but again I’m not a young man yet.
Perhaps long thoughts are like dreams. You know what I mean? As if they had no borders, they had no limits. He imagines that long thoughts would come naturally to children. Children’s minds are very open to possibilities. Yes, I want to have those long thoughts, ideas and visions that pierce the sky.
Oh! Oh! That old man is challenging me to another staring contest. Well, I’m not in a rush to grow up anyway. There are many kind people around me, taking care of me. I guess I’ll wait a bit before I start thinking about those long, very long thoughts.