An afternoon with friends led L and Franio to discover (or for L, to rediscover) the joys of mucking about with gardening tools. Our host stayed in the backyard with the kids for a bit, teaching them how safely to use semi-dangerous equipment. Naturally, I felt they might as well be playing with chainsaws and strychnine.

It became an object lesson for the Girl: bigger kids can do things younger children simply can’t. Or at least shouldn’t. Not when Tata is around, anyway. L was delicately working.

Franio was putting his back into it.

“I do it like Franio, Tata!” L squealed several times. “No, you do it gently,” Tata replied.

It was another of many “you can’t protect them forever but ‘forever’ is not now” moments.

More significant than the digging or other fun was the sharing. Spontaneous, unsolicited sharing. “You try now,” was a common refrain.

The adults did the parental love and horror stories routine with the new parents. With us, all that advice and thos endless anecdotes do little except provide reassurance. Yet we tell the stories anyway.