Time Continues Marching On

Bryce and Maclane are becoming good buddies.

A year ago we were adjusting to the happy addition of two infants to our family. This week both little guys will have turned one year old; already they’ve come a long way from those tiny blankets that swaddled them on the way home from the hospital. Time still flies – or marches on – whichever verb you prefer.

Maclane, who marked his first birthday about two weeks ago, is toddling around everywhere, and has already proved to be very vocal. His favorite words right now seem to be “momma” and “uh, oh!” – mixed with gibberish only he can comprehend. He seems to have concluded the world is one big toy box.

Later this week Bryce also turns one. Having been born about six weeks premature, he has some catching up to do with his older cousin. But he’s getting that crawling thing figured out, has started building his own vocabulary, and when he’s in the mood, will even wave bye-bye.

Having two infants around reminds us of how wondrous even the smallest things can be – a flower, a tiny bit of fruit, a hole in a sock, even a tuft of carpet that has worked loose and lies alone on the floor. Babies notice such things. And as grandparents, we realize how easy it is to lose an appreciation for life’s simpler things.

Years ago I first heard someone comment, “If I had known grandkids were so great, I would have had them first!” At the time we didn’t yet have grandchildren. But now, with five grandkids living nearby, along with five others in Ohio, we “get it.” Proverbs 17:6 states, “Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.”

They are fun to have around, watching them grow, learn and display their unique personalities and interests. I hardly regard myself or my wife as “aged,” but as we spend time with our “young ’uns,” the passage seems right. They truly are a “crown.”