Fat Dora

I've never been one who is too sentimental about the passage of time. I'm not great with babies. I won't be tearing up next week when my boys are back in school. My wife and I joke that we look forward to the day that our kids grow up and move out of the house. We'll finally get it back to ourselves and we will be able to go to movies and go out to eat and not have to vacuum up gold fish crackers every night before we watch our stories.

But my youngest has changed all that. She's funny and charming and a delight to be around. I don't ever want her to grow up because she is too much fun. Today we took her to the store and told her she could pick out a new toy. She immediately went for weird, ball-shaped Dora the Explorer. As soon as she picked it up she said "I'm going to name her Fat Dora." We laughed, the lady at the store laughed and Fat Dora was born. And now all day I've been listening to "where's Fat Dora?" and "I love you, Fat Dora!" and, my personal fave, when she runs up and sticks Fat Dora in your face and yells "FAT DORA!!"

Someday, and I'm afraid it will seem too soon, that cute, little, Fat Dora loving girl will move out of my house and be a grown up. It's makes my heart rate go up just to think about it. Today, my oldest niece moved out of her house to attend college. Pa-chkooooww!! (That was the sound of my mind being blown.) Because she's my first niece, I remember her babyhood vividly. And now she's attending college and nearly an adult. When did that happen?! Wasn't she a baby like a week ago? Topher has a son whi just started high school. And he's this smart, cool, grown-up-seeming young adult who can carry on adult conversations. I swear he was a toddler obsessed with planets last Tuesday (Topher's wife just started crying when she read that sentence.)

More and more, I'm shocked to be one of the adults in the room. Aren't we the young, awesome kids who are going to change the world? When did I become the bald guy with the mortgage who makes dated pop culture references that go over the heads of my co-workers?

There is no escaping it. We're getting older. And my kids are getting older. Someday that little girl who loves Fat Dora will be going off to college. It does make me a little bit sad and a little bit sentimental.