One day long ago she was biting my finger with her first tooth, then a hop, skip and a jump later she was waving to me as I stood in the doorway to her Kindergarten classroom. Shortly after that she got too big to ride on my shoulders any more, so I put her down, it was just a few weeks ago, I could swear it was… Then I got home from work one night last week and looked closer at her and she’s taller than my wife, and wearing a bra for Og’s sake, and now last night I found her quietly looking for my wife’s menstrual pads in our bathroom after saying she might not be able to go swimming in the hotel pool over Spring Break.
I remember how I told her when I tucked her in the night before her 5th birthday that I’d miss her 4-year-old self, but was looking forward to meeting her 5-year-old self in the morning: “Don’t be sad, 4-year-old me won’t be gone… She’ll be here, inside of me!”
And now there’s an ever deepening stack of "her"s separating me from that 4-year-old little girl. I’m so proud of the bright young lady that’s on the top of the stack. But oh, how I miss that four year old girl, too!
Yep, I feel your pain, except I don’t know anything about little girls. I still look for those sweet little boys who used to hug my neck and ask me so many question when I look at the two sweaty, hairy men who visit occasionally. It doesn’t make any sense that they changed so fast. Sure, I was there every day, so I must have seen it happen but still… Maybe I blinked at the wrong time?
Oh boy, I hear ya. My daughter is 14 and it seems like only a year ago we were having tea parties and reading bedtime stories.
Now she disappears into her room and chats on Facebook all night. I miss the 4 year old who actually said “I want to marry Daddy!” Now all I’m good for is helping with science homework.
“When you have a son, you have to worry about one penis. When you have a daughter, you have to worry about ALL the penises.”
So a very wise person said to me.
It’s a great ride, but you’ll have a lot more gray in the hair you have left when its over. I was looking through proofs of senior pictures with my eldest last night. Coming across a specific one, I said “too much boob.” Her response was “I have big boobs. Deal with it.”
I’ll have a beer waiting on the other side for you. Good luck!
There is a commercial out there that simultaneously makes me smile and breaks my heart. It’s an attractive looking dad, looking into a car, where his elementary school-aged daughter is sitting in the driver’s seat. He tells her some driving instructions, as it cuts back and forth, and on the last cut, she’s a beautiful teenager and you can just see how she’s still his little girl.
Let me find it.
Ah, here it is. The look on his face at the end always gets to me:
It wasn’t long ago the Rykid was asking for “macawoni and teez.” Now he’s old enough to order a beer (but he doesn’t).
It seems so recently that I waved to him as he walked into kindergarten on the first day of school. He’ll be graduating from college soon.
I used to carry him in my arms and go for walks around the block. Now, he’s 6’2".
I’d read him stories all the time. Now he writes them.
I have a sock from when he was a baby bungee corded on the visor of my truck (it says "#1 KID). Now, it might just fit around his big toe.
I miss that little kid, but I’m sure damned proud of that man.
To the OP:
I’m really glad I had a son. Boys kind of ease their way from kid to teen to adult. With girls, there are distinct milestones that are harder to get your head around–they happen so suddenly. Best wishes to you and your daughter. I hope she gets to go swimming.
Beat me to it!
(I don’t know what that link is, since I can’t run videos on this mochine…
But I’m guessing that it’s Zero Mostel singing Sunrise, Sunset.)
