Being Transformed

Our first grandchild is due tomorrow (well, I guess if you want to get technical about it I should confess that it's my step-grandchild - there are those (me) who would say I shouldn't be old enough to have a genetic grandchild :))  Anyway, it's got me thinking about what it was like becoming a parent.

Parenthood is a transformation.  Once you have a child, you never look at the world quite the same way again.  You do the basics - feed, clothe, shelter, and care for your child - but it goes way beyond that.

You find out what delights them so you can hear them laugh again and again.  You sit with their little freshly-bathed pajamaed selves in your lap, breathing in the sweet scent of Johnson's baby shampoo and sleepy child while you read them bedtime stories.  You kiss boo-boos better, hand them pieces of bread to feed the ducklings, build block towers for them to destroy, listen to their thoughts, answer their questions, encourage their exploration of the world, sit up with them at night when they don't feel well, share their wonder as they discover new things about themselves and the world around them, chase away their bad dreams, comfort them when they're sad, bake cookies on rainy afternoons, hold onto them so they feel safe while the ocean licks at their feet, carry them when they're tired even if you are too, run beside the bike until they're ready for you to let go... - well, you know.

You do what makes them happy.

Case in point:  Last week, I took my kids to see Transformers.


And

(yes, there's more!)

I sat through the whole thing!

I'm pretty sure that qualifies as parental devotion.

Have you seen this film?  I don't know know how they took themselves seriously.  The drama of Optimus Prime (I did not make that up - that's one of their names!) and the other autobots (I think that's what they called the good transformers but I confess the decibel level beat me into a stupor) marching toward their exile was supposed to be so intense, and all I could think was, they're trucks that turn into robots - where's the emotional pull in that?  I guess I just don't get it.

Oh, darn.

Transformers is not a movie I would have chosen to see - ever - but my kids and their cousins wanted to go, so my sister and I did what parents do: we allowed our eardrums to be assaulted for, like, 2 1/2 hours (it was r e a l l y long - well, maybe not, but it seemed endless!) while we feigned interest in the robot drama so that our kids could have a good time.  Which they totally did.

But that's what I'm talking about.  Being Transformed :)

What have you done with or for your kids recently that you never would have done without them?

(And feel free to place bets on the actual arrival date and gender of our grandbaby - we've got a bracket going that rivals March Madness!)