Six
Daily I resist the constant need
to press into your cream puff cheeks,
nose breathing in your still sweet morning breath;
resist the need to smooth your Dennis-the-Menace cowlick
as you wait for the school bus;
or trace a finger along your sweetly exposed neck
in the library while you read "Dick and Jane".
I know this urge dissipates well before middle school
(I say this as my fifth grader gives me the raised
"Don't even try it!" eyebrow).
My heart soared yesterday as entering the classroom,
you yelled "Mommy!", wrapped me with a huge hug.
Six is still so dear, yet I know the day
will soon come upon finishing "Runaway Bunny"
you won't need Joey Kangaroo under the covers with you,
won't ask for an "Eskimo kiss".
I've been through this five times before.
It never gets any easier.
by Margaret Bednar, December 5, 2013
The video below of the little boy's voice and the mother's commentary cracked me up. I have read this very same book to all six of my children…
This is for "Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Out of Standard - Eskimo" - our marching directions? To use the word Eskimo without mentioning snow or any adjective thereof.
I may change "Eskimo kiss" to "butterfly kisses" at a later date as that is what we do, but for now, I claim "artistic license".
Oh, and don't think I don't kiss and squeeze my youngest as often as I can get away with (I just try to do it a bit more at home than at school or in public - although, he doesn't complain about it … yet).
24 comments:
awww. so very sweet.
Aww...so tender and visual. We read this, too and we do butterfly kisses as well!! So sweet, Margaret!
mine as they grew older didn't even want me to acknowledge them in the mall... which just egged me on to make a big deal of it when I did see them... :)
they grow to fast...
you caught the essence of those early years in the poem... well done
Robert - REALLY funny you said that about the mall. The other day my 8th grader gave me a very weak hug and I squeezed her and kissed her HUGE on each cheek. (I think she learned her lesson :)
This is so sweet. I love on mine every chance I get. I know it's just a matter of time before she's too COOL to tolerate it!
ha! my 14 yr old freshman stopped saying hi beyond the barely raised nod and "hey" in 5th grade. my 7th grader only just stopped allowing me to hold his hand :).
question - is that colic, or cowlick, that you mean in the 2nd verse? the first is screaming fits, the second is unruly hair... ~
Thanks, Michael, for the correction! It is cowlick.
Thanks, Michael, for the correction! It is cowlick.
My mother was pleased when we became adults who didn't need to be cool, and were happy to greet her and kiss her in the mall or wherever else.
Love that 6-year-old in public as long as you can get away with it.
Last year, when my niece's husband was in hospital with leukemia, I went out there to visit and help with whatever I could. One day I picked up their then-5-year-old at kindergarten, and she was thrilled to see me, which of course made me SO happy despite the unfortunate reason for my being there.
K
I love that you chose to write about your adorable boy. He will always need that Eskimo kiss from Mom.
Very sweet, Margaret. They get too cool too fast, but I think eventually they like being hugged again--got to watch out for the five o clock shadow, though. ;_)
The Runaway Bunny is an all-time favorite of mine. I never even knew about it until 2001 when I watched a movie called "Wit". A rather hard-boiled English professor is dying of cancer, and every day someone reads Shakespeare or something lofty to her. Finally, at the end, she asks for The Runaway Bunny instead.
As a child, my mother was about as likely to read to me as she was to fly to the moon. My father read to me, but he read me books about history. Lord above. Did these people not have access to "Goodnight Moon"??? Sheesh.
Anyway, that video is fabulous. The little boy is adorable, and she cracked me up with her commentary.
Margaret, one of your many strengths as a poet is to intertwine the common with inspiration, here you produced absolute stunning results. viva la
A nice glimpse of childhood
What a nice story! I have no children myself and I understand there is something which passes me by. It is a long time since I was a child myself. But being "hugged" and "kissed" by God is it.
Yes, sweet at six, and turn around, and wonder where it went?
This is wonderful! My boy was never cuddly. Seriously, independent from birth.
Oh, Margaret this was so wonderful. It took me right back to when my two sons were little...now they are strapping men and sometimes I catch a glimpse of their previous incarnations and it makes my heart smile.
Such sweet reflections.
I enjoyed remembering my childhood intervals between drs, hospitals etc.. but my sisters are still 6 in my mind as I read your cuddling and storybook loving ways... I know God kisses each of us at every dawn~ Faithfully Debbie
What a tender piece...I remember those days of cuddling and reading to my girls..gosh it seems so long a go now.
Such a sweet post! Yes, it is lovely to kiss little boys, or girls, as it will become harder to do when they are teenagers… but then, remember there will be grandchildren… and you can start kissing all over again!
My first is now 14. I do miss that little girl a little, but I like the woman she is becoming much more.
Ah, Eskimo kisses. This is a very special poem, Margaret.
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