To be Young Again

The twenty month old squatted down to play with some Duplo pieces such that the diaper butt was less than an inch above the floor. Meanwhile, grandpa, whose bad knees prevent him from knelling too long on a hard surface, much less squat so low, is laying on the floor. It was not just the child's squat, it was the way he rose so easily and then repeated the process as if not a care in the world. While Howie is just two and a half months shy of his second birthday, my birthday falls eleven days before his, but I will be 68.  Looking at him navigate squats and easily maneuver while playing, while I laid there to be near his level, I thought about how it would be to be young again. 

While I could probably squat that low, I am sure my knees, ankles and other parts of the body would hurt. Getting up may be more problematic than going down. If the human body is like an erector set, I think my screws and bolts are coming loose in which a pop could be catastrophic. Just looking at how low he squatted made my hips and knees hurt. I do not think it advisable to try such a low squat, unless I have to.

But, it is not just the squat, it is how if he falls, as toddlers do on occasion sometimes he may cry most times not. Falls are a big concern for aged adults, since they may be difficult to recover. Toddlers seems to have a unique ability to bend and twist with what ever occurrence befalls them. Their extremities bend in ways I do not recall, and only wish.

Times have changed. Howie has his own water bottle. My wife bought a stroller to keep here and when we walked to the park he tried to keep putting the water bottle in the small formed plastic round on the stroller for which a water bottle was intended, but it was too small for his nice dinosaur themed water bottle, whose base was too big. When I was a kid we probably did not have a water bottle. As we grew older we did not go inside for a drink of water, we went to the hose, which is now a non-no. Heck, even during football practice not many water breaks were offered. 

Howie has a nice dinosaur tooth brush. Such things did not exist when I was that age, perhaps because I was born closer to the Mesozoic era than was he. With Smartphones readily available children born today are highly photographed. I am not sure what will happen to all those photos, perhaps go the way of the old slides from 50 years ago. Some are perhaps stored in a data center many miles from the user of the phone.

There are bound to be differences between Howie and when he is 68, 66 years from now. Time differential is huge, but he is a first born, and as we all know parents are more indulgent to a first born, and the last born. I am one of the disappearing middle children, for whom nothing was ever easy, that is if any one even knew you were around. Although, flying under the radar as a middle child may have had benefits of which I was not aware or took advantage of. 

Howie, would let my wife hold him, and I wonder if it is because he recognizes her as a fellow first born. He got made if I tried to hold him. My wife says it is because she has a more tender approach than do I.  However, I am sure my wife was emitting pheromones to Howie that said "Howie, I am a first born like you in addition to being your paternal grandmother." That is not to say we did not have fun. We played with Duplo pieces, trucks and a few times a 1961 or 1962 era Lionel train. The train seemed to either fascinate him, or he viewed it with caution, not quite understanding what it really was. We also had fun at the playground and his exploration of play equipment albeit it a few years ahead of his age. 

Howie is born in a much different era than I. Computers and AI (whether a bubble or not) are dominating and may well take away jobs. The world is much more interconnected. Electronic communication with cell phones and the internet flow information from here to the Republic of Georgia in seconds. My shoes at that age had laces, Howie has shoes that are Velcro. Clocks are now mainly digital and not analog, which makes me wonder in 64 years when Howie has his wellness check for Medicare, if it is still around, what time will they make him draw?

The nimbleness and flexibility of Howie, and other young children, is a wonder to see. Great movements for a grandfather to marvel at as he watches his grandchild grow up. If I was young again, I would not have this experience. But, that does not mean I do not wish my erector set of a body was a bit more nimble.