A Fascinating Being

order arial, cialis sans-serif;”>By Leo G. Alvarez
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Watching my grandchildren grow from infancy to adults has been an eye opening learning experience for me.

As a parent in our twenties few of us have the time to enjoy being a parent. We spend too much time away from home; too much time at work; too much time trying to make ends meet; too much time in in the juggling act of running and maintaining a household. Which leaves little time for watching and enjoying the transition from infancy to childhood to puberty, to adulthood. We are just too busy to watch and enjoy the stages a child goes through to become an adult. We miss so much.

Enter the grandchildren.

Jake

I am as guilty as any grandparent who says you never know the true meaning of love until you hold your first grandchild, and to this moment I feel that way! But let’s fast forward to the second day of this child’s amazing life.

You marvel at those little fists clenching and unclenching, the arms pumping in all directions. It is a primitive form of exercise and strengthening of muscles. The facial muscles move, an eventual development of the muscles that will express emotions.

Those unintelligible sounds that someday will become speech and that wonderful day when they will say “I love you Grandpa”. That wonderful little mind listening as we speak and learning speech with each sound we make. In another country this little creature would learn a different language.

Those little legs randomly jerking will someday place this little creature in an upright position and propel him to move forward. Those dimpled feet will somehow balance an increasing weight and hold up the weight of adulthood.

In a few short months, those jerky movements will play a part in propelling this little creature to roll over, sit up, crawl, stand up, walk, and run.

The realization that he can move from object to object, room to room, indoors to outdoors has stimulated the brain to question what does it feel like to chew, can I pick it up, move it, throw it, climb on it. Now the real experimentation begins.

Experimentation further stimulates the brain with its failures and successes. If at first you do not succeed, you try again. And so the personalization of this child begins in earnest because some of us will become doers and some followers, although an attentive parent can guide this process in either direction.

And so it goes. We learn through failure and success, but we also learn that we do have a choice, whether to accept defeat or push towards success. We marvel at how quickly our children have accepted the electronic age and all its options but if you watch them as they push buttons you realize the process they use – if this doesn’t work you try this. Their failures are but stepping stones to success.

We are indeed fascinating Beings. Each of us is unique. Because of this we should never compare ourselves to anyone else.

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Leo Alvarez is retired from Oxnard PD and is President of the Children’s Wall of Tears™ www.thecwot.org

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