Ducks Grow Up Fast

Lately Alice has been saying all sorts of amusing things. She has a knack for getting a word almost right in a way that improves on the original.

A couple of weeks ago, for example, she told me she planned to sleep on the “toe” of my bed. She meant foot, but toe sounds even more unobtrusive—like something she might actually get away with doing.  She also told me she was good at grinding cheese, and while the correct word was grating, hers is more appealing. 

Other kids do this, too, of course. A friend told me his five-year-old son was looking forward to “be-cation,” which such a more Zen way to envision “vacation.”

Which brings me to my point: We think we’re going to remember these sorts of cute expressions forever, but they do tend to leak out of the brain, or maybe get ground out of the neural folds by the cheese grater of life.

This is why I am making an attempt to write more of this stuff down.

We were driving by the neighborhood duck pond on our way home from an errand yesterday. Alice and Lucy always make a point of checking on the babies, who grew from duckling to teenage duck to adult over the course of spring and summer. (Teenage duck is entirely their concept. I’m sure there is a scientific name for fuzzy and sort of awkward, but teenage pretty much sums it up for me.)

I nearly had to pull over laughing when Alice said, “Ducks: They grow up so fast.”

It’s not just ducks who have a tendency to grow up quickly. Alice and Lucy are under the impression that childhood is forever. And why shouldn’t they be? They’ve been kids their whole lives.

But oh, how they’ve have grown. If there was any doubt in my mind that Lucy is officially a tween, it vanished the moment she got her first purse last week. She kept poking around in my closet, asking if she could have one of mine. Answer? No. So I took her to Target and let her pick something off their sale rack.

First, she decided she needed one big enough to carry around a script—she plans to be in a couple of plays this fall. She didn’t want the red one I liked best because “black was more versatile.” (Versatile!)

The capper, though, was what she filled it with when she came home: Band-Aids, crayons, a baby’s blanket—and Adam’s travel-sized Speed Stick deodorant. It’s a mix that says she’s part little girl and part adolescent, planning for skinned knees and sweaty armpits all at once.

Thinking about it makes me feel like I need a be-cation. These are great moments in anyone’s life, and I don’t want to miss a single one.

(Shameless Cozi plug, folks—have you tried the Cozi Family Journal yet? I tend to jot things down in mine for later perusal. My latest post: Alice told Adam, “When I’m dead, I want my body to be rotted in public.” Rot in public, folks. It’s the new R.I.P.)

--Martha Brockenbrough

Comments

[Margit Crane]

Speaking of journals, Martha, and tweens:

I'd like to recommend The Ask Anything Journal, created by my friend and colleague, Amy Lang, of Birds + Bees + Kids, LLC. Your child/tween/teen asks you a written question and then hands over the journal for your answer. It's great for communicating about just about anything, including the touchier subjects...

Just google Amy Lang - hers is the #1 site

[Jessica A]

Oh how cute, Martha. Can't believe how times flies with this and etc.