Age of Discovery

I had lunch with a coworker yesterday, a coworker who has a 16 month old son at home. My son is 18 months old, and we have that in common. We started talking about our families, and he asked me my favorite age. I have seven from which to choose starting at newborn and ending at six years old. It really should not be that hard to pick. As it turns out, it was impossible to decide.

I started to tell him how much I liked my son's age. He is walking and really gets around. Coilin is exploring the world around him as only an 18 month old can. Also, he is starting to talk and is able to communicate with us more. This is an awesome time. It is a time of discovery. That is when I got to thinking. All of childhood is a time of discovery. It is just a matter of what it is the child is learning.

My middle child, Jillian, is in her first year of Preschool. She is starting to discover friendships. Our town has a Halloween parade, and our children have participated every year that we have lived here. While at this parade, Jillian ran into a class mate. Her parents and my wife decided to walk together with the rest of the preschoolers. I was walking with my oldest with the First Graders. On our way back to the house, Jillian told me how she and her friend walked together, and that they held hands. She was so happy, and it was so sweet to hear her talk about the night. I knew that her new friend made the parade that much more special for my Jillian.

My oldest, Molly, is in First grade. She is discovering the most important thing of all – her self-confidence. I wrote a bit about this last week in “Give It a Try.” So, I will not rehash all of it here. Molly is trying new things all of the time. The same day of the sleep over I talk about in “Give It a Try” she had a bowling party. I dropped her off and ran some errands. Molly was totally fine with me leaving her by herself. She was hanging out with Second Graders. Granted, my neighbors, whom we trust implicitly, were in charge; but even so, last year she would never have stayed without me or Shannon.

For me it is amazing to be able experience so many different moments with my children. It does not matter whether I am there to witness the moment or if I hear about it from them. I would prefer to be there for everything, but I realize that is impossible. I do my very best to be there with them every chance I get. I know how quickly the first six years with Molly has flown by, and I hear from folks with older children that the time does not slow down any.