There is nothing in the world so remarkable as a child, and nothing so special as the time you spend with that child. My daughter is really into the phase now where she is learning how to speak, and the words she uses are absolutely wonderful. Truthfully, I wouldn't care if she learned another word, as long as she keeps screaming, "Hi, Daddy!" when I get home from work -- running up to me with arms outstretched for a big hug, and then starting to talk about "Blue's Clues" or her friends from school or wanting to watch "Lazy Town."
Everything is such an amazing experience for her, and I sometimes forget that I'm seeing things that I've experienced my entire life for the very first time through her eyes. Try sometime to explain to a person who doesn't have children how wonderful it is; you can try and explain it until you're blue in the face, and you get the impression they never really quite understand. And then, by contrast, try it again after they've had their first child -- and you'll see that look of, "Oh, yes, I UNDERSTAND!" has crept into their eyes.
Benjamin Franklin once said that beer was God's way of letting us know that he loves us and wants us to be happy. I think that a CHILD is God's way of letting us know he loves us -- and of giving us something wonderful to love.
I feel guilty not spending more time with her since I had started work again. When she gets upset during our morning commutes and before I drop her off, I feel like staying with her and holding her till she's calmed down and then leave. But my time does not allow for that. I wish I would have more time to tell her things will be okay, and teach her more of how to be the independent girl she will be.
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