Friday, April 9, 2010

Only Girls

My maternal grandmother was an only child. My mother was an only child. I am the eldest. I have a younger brother. I have one daughter.

My mother found this poem in my great-grandmother's things:

For a Very Young Daughter

By Anne Mary Lawler

Soon you will leave your pinafores and toys,
Your dolls and dishes, and your little bib:
Soon you will scorn to sleep within a crib;
And you will smirk at grubby little boys
And write them silly notes; you even may
Walk giggling home from school with them each day.

Then, shortly, you'll be dancing, satin-shod,
Trailing your singing skirts about the room,
Lovlier than a daffodil in bloom;
And you will flirt with smile and frown and nod,
And play at love, and break a heart or two--
And I shall know that I am losing you--

And then--too suddenly the world will change--
And you will walk in tenderness and tears
Bravely and strong to meet the waiting years;
And I shall find it sad and sweet and strange
That you will grow, as women grow, quite wise
In mending socks and singing lullabies.

Yes, I shall lose you--for the days are swift,
We do not have the skill to check their flight--
Perhaps we would not, even if we might;
So I shall watch the spinning hours lift
Our lives apart--and still find strength to smile,
Knowing that you were mine this little while.


Sometimes a poem written a hundred years ago, while a tad sentimental, is just right for a cool and dafodilly April day. Though I must confess my hope that Anne Mary knew that her daughter would grow quite wise, period. Not merely in mending socks and lullabies. Anne Mary needed to complete her rhyme.

I'm struggling with potty training. Blink and your baby's gone isn't she? Urine is sterile, right? I'm like a parody of a Mommy Blog.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Read this.

Yup. This is right.

http://thebloggess.com/?p=6455

What those grown ups did was not okay. And they were grown ups. I am watching my baby girl learn how to behave. I am watching her learn the very very hard lesson of sharing. Of putting others in front of herself. Of being considerate and loving.

Isn't it time grown ups started acting that way too?