the end of childhood / 童年的尾巴

小方再兩個月就五歲了，但是我們講電話時，我常有和成年人交談的錯覺，他瞭解也喜歡用大人的詞彙，我聽了總是哭笑不得，最近連起雲劑都成為我們談話的內容之一，這個孩子成長的速度讓人跟不上。

Von is about to turn five in two months, but when we chat on the phone, I have the feeling that I am conversing with a grown-up. He understands and loves to use adults’ vocabulary, though I am not sure if it’s something to be glad about. This week he even mentioned the term “clouding agent” in our conversation. Somehow I can’t catch up with him as he matures at such a surprising rate.

其實我有點感傷，我想和他說，起雲劑那種話題就交給大人，他不需要操心，他有時也要像小楷，發揮小孩子古靈精怪的創意，經過大樓前的噴水池會說：爸爸，我要游泳；沒有大人理的時候同樣玩得不亦樂乎。

In fact, I feel sort of sentimental. I want to tell him that he’s the last person to worry about clouding agents. Sometimes he should just free his wild imagination like Kai, who will utter, “Daddy, I want to swim!” when passing by a fountain surrounded by skyscrapers in a commercial district. And Kai has the time of his life even when the adults totally forget his existence.

小楷喜歡搬動我們的行李箱，我幫他畫了一張行李箱的秘密，小方說：這真是有趣的圖，但是為甚麼成片的葉子會變成高速公路呢？車子又怎麼會飛起來呢？我心裡想，因為我希望你不論長多大，都能自由自在，我們有這麼多人在幫你緊緊抓著童年的尾巴啊！

Kai enjoys pushing around our suitcase when he comes to visit, so I drew a picture about the secret inside for him. Von asked, “This is an interesting picture, but how come the foliage becomes a green highway and why does the car fly?” My answer is, “Because I hope no matter how old you are, you can always remain so carefree at heart. After all, so many of us are seizing the tail of childhood for you to be a child a little bit longer!”