Alone with a new grandson

Little Ben and I are having a staring contest. He will win. Nobody in the world can survive the look of a two-month-old baby. I wonder, for the tenth time, what is going through his head. Is he thinking of something?

Lines from a poem by Henry Wadsworth come to mind by chance.

“The will of a child is the will of the wind and the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.”

Most of us adults assume that a tiny baby’s thoughts are pretty focused on things of survival.

“Can someone please feed me or change my diaper or pick me up?” But maybe it’s us who are shortsighted.

In many ways, we are all mysteries to each other. Could it be that this little one is already measuring us?

“Hmm! This face looks different from mom’s. Her voice is deeper too. What the hell, she’s making funny faces at me. Now that’s really cool.”

“He’s hugging me a little awkwardly. It looks like he hasn’t held a baby in a while. But he smiles a lot. He seems to enjoy being with me.”

“I wonder a lot of 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 in there and I have to admit I was getting restless.”

Now that I’m in this new world, I have to figure out where I go 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 then again, I am not a young man yet.

Maybe long thoughts are like dreams. You know what I want to say? As if they had no borders, no limits. He realizes that long thoughts would be natural for children. Children’s minds are wide 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 hurry to grow up anyway. There are many kind people around me, taking care of me. I guess I’ll wait a while before I start thinking those long, long thoughts.