What a Miracle

On growing plants and toddlers

It’s feeling like spring, and in our house spring seed starting began in February. I first planted onions, peppers, brassicas – things that take a while longer to get growing. In Minnesota, we have a short growing season, so giving slow movers like that a healthy head start is essential.

In early March I planted more of the same, and a few extras. Late March was tomato time (and I was probably a little early).

Now in early April I’m up-potting the plants that are starting to grow out of their smaller pots. I’m planting seeds that take less time to get started and need less time inside before they all make their big appearance in the garden. Soon enough, everything will be lush and green and producing – when they’ve all reached maturity.

Before we get to eat anything we grow, I have to put a lot of time, energy, resources, and hope into these little tiny seedlings. When they first poke their tiny first leaves out, my wife and I get so excited. It’s a miracle! They grew! In the first few weeks, they put on a good bit of growth. Every day they get taller, wider, grow more leaves. Then they hit a little holding period, and you can tell that under the surface, they are getting ready to explode. They have to be in the right environment to do that, though. They need bigger space, room to grow, warmer light (the sun), and they need to take the risk of being out in the open world with all of it’s storms and wind and bugs and predators.

I can’t help but think about our journey with our 18 month old in the same way. When he first came along, it was hard not to stare at him and think, “wow, he’s a miracle! We grew that little thing!” (my wife did). In his first year he grew a ton. Not a day would go by that we didn’t see growth in some area – his movement, the first time he smiled, when he laughed for the first time. Crawling to walking, to basically running now. That first year required a lot of tender care, constant monitoring and managing, and a lot of milk and time.

Once he started growing, the care changed. The effort required changed. Instead of constantly holding him and moving him from here to there, we needed to chase him around the house as he explored his new, bigger world. Pretty soon couches and chairs became his mountain to climb, and life was more about making sure he didn’t throw himself off of a high place. At first he needed plenty of milk, sleep, and snuggles. Now he needs cheddar bunnies and rice and time outside to explore his bigger world.

And now, he likes to poke his little fingers into the mini greenhouse and pull out seedlings. I don’t get to stressed about that, though. He thinks the little plants are a miracle, too. Want to know what’s cooler to a toddler than a little plant? Nothing. Want to know what’s cuter than a toddler laughing and yelling “EEEEEEEEF” (leaf) while he pulls out baby plants? Nothing.

Without all of that care at the beginning of his life, he wouldn’t be where he is now. His care is turning into something different these days. He’s more ready to get out into the big world (of our backyard), and this summer I’m really looking forward to him “helping” in the garden – even if that means a few of these plants end up in the compost bin.

When you take your indoor seedlings outside, you need to go through an acclimation process. On day one, you bring them outside for an hour or two. Day two, another hour or so. Slowly you get them acclimated to their new, bigger, harsher home outdoors. Our kids are really similar. You can’t just throw them into a new environment and expect them to thrive. They will be shocked, much like the little toddler seedlings. You need to introduce them slowly, intentionally, until one day they are ready to settle in their new home and thrive.

Much like with toddlers, eventually I’ll have to start this growth process again. Start at square one. Take the lessons I learned from the previous season and put those lessons to good use in the next one. In every new season of my son’s life, I get to take the lessons I learned from the previous one and put them into action as he enters his new seedling stage. Soon there will be school, friends, and new things that he gets to experience for the first time as a little sprout. We get new chances to start again each day, too, and I get to take the things I did well and the things I absolutely did not do well and try to form that into some new lesson tomorrow. If I do enough of that, day after day and year after year, I think the harvest is going to be pretty good.

One day all this work will bear fruit, but in the meantime, it’s hard not to see the little growth each day and think:

“Wow, what a miracle.”