A Growing Lilly

Hey, I haven't stopped playing with my grandchildren. Someone took them away and gave me great grandchildren instead. One night I went to bed and when I got up in the morning I was a very old man with great grandchildren. It was a dirty trick! But I want to say that these great grandchildren are every bit as much fun as the grandchildren were.

Our little Lilly is almost three already. Whoa, slow down a bit. I want her to be that grinning, irascible little towhead for several years, and I know from experience that if I blink too many times it will be all over. She is such a happy child. Her parents must be doing something right.

Now the other day, when her body language wreaked of defiance and she told her daddy "No!" she was threatened with a spank. Sure enough she pushed the envelope, and she earned her swat. I know something about the hand that administered that swat. I was there on the day she was born to see that same hand holding and caressing this little Lilly. I saw her daddy use the little finger of that same hand as a pacifier on that day. There was a lot of love in the bonding I witnessed almost three years ago. And I know that same love was there administering the swat

As this Lilly grows she may be delicate in many ways, but there was no mark left on her little derriere. Instead there was a little mark placed on her memory board, saying "You may not cross this line." When a parent fails to place that marker, it is not because of love for the child, but love for himself. This child is always cheerful, cute and fun to be with. It's such a crazy life. I can easily remember when Lilly's mother was the child, asking for the swat.