I have had plenty of time to get used to being a dad.  I have three children ranging in age from four to ten, but I’ve never made the connection between their childhood and my own until recently.  My oldest daughter, Halle, just turned ten last week and it struck me more than any other birthday that my children have had to date.  Ten, being a nice round number, is not anything particularly special to me but it’s the first time that I took a moment to reflect on Halle’s growing up with a recollection of my own childhood.  I can actually remember being ten years old!  Generally my memories of childhood are somewhat opaque and I can’t attribute that to any specifically traumatic moment in my life.  A lot of head shrinks might tell you that an adult with little to no memories of early childhood is suppressing something terrible and unable to recall most events due to a few bad ones.  For me I’m not sure that’s true but still, I just don’t remember much from that period of my life.  However, I can clearly recall being a ten year old.  At ten years old I was, not unlike Halle, a fourth grader and a kid on the cusp of finding himself.  Halle shows many of the same signs that this is true for her also.  Halle is taking piano lessons right now and she’s learning quite nicely.  She is also very much enjoying her first celebrity crush and listening to music that I think is crap.  She’s coming into her own.  For most young kids their taste reflects that of their parents.  They listen to mom and dad’s music and wear the clothes chosen for them by mom and dad.  Halle is growing out of this.  Each morning she spends several minutes in front of the mirror to make sure that her hair is parted on the side just so to achieve that hair-in-the-face effect.  It’s ridiculous really but it’s all Halle.  She also spends countless hours of time curled up on the couch or chair or bed with her nose in a book.  When she’s in this state and I ask her a question, her response in comprised of all vowels.  She’s her own person now, not just my kid. *sigh* I wonder what’s next.