The baby has come to visit along with his mother and father. No time to write a blog. Just time to look at and love him. At four months, he and his parents know each other quite well. They know what to expect from each other and they know how to show their love for each other. It is a beautiful thing to watch your own child care for his child. Now he knows the fears a parent can have for a child, but he also knows the fierce love a parent holds for a child. Now your child knows how you felt while you were raising him. That knowledge is a wide bridge connecting you now. It leads to understanding and  perhaps vindication for past discipline. It is an interesting process to be part of, this parenting and grand-parenting. Most instructive. Yes, the baby has come to visit "trailing clouds of glory."

Two poems, the first by Gerard Manly Hopkins and the second by William Wordsworth

The child is father to the man

‘THE CHILD is father to the man.’ How can he be? The words are wild. Suck any sense from that who can: ‘The child is father to the man.’ No; what the poet did write ran,         5 ‘The man is father to the child.’ ‘The child is father to the man!’ How can he be? The words are wild.       My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold, by William Wordsworth   My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The Child is father of the Man; I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety. 1802.