I was telling Cal that I feel like I hardly know our younger son – so much attention gets given to his brother, I figured. He said very soberingly: ‘No one does, he can’t talk’. It’s a fair point. I remember writing a Facebook post to mark Boy #1’s first birthday and commenting on how communication is a bit of a work in progress, and so it is with Boy #2. It’s his first birthday today. 🎂
This time last year I was waiting to get wheeled into an operating theatre – the baby had to be born by Caesarean section because of complicated NHS policies to do with him being breech (i.e. upside up). I was thinking about what kind of a birthday the 26th of August would make. It seems like a random date, not very memorable, not the first or last day of a month, for example, or a national holiday. ‘A name won’t spoil a man, if the man won’t spoil the name’, as the Finns say; hopefully the same goes for birthdays.
He came out disconcertingly quickly in the end. I had tasked Cal with telling me whether it was a boy or a girl (we didn’t find out beforehand with either child – much more fun). He said, ‘Meri, it’s another boy’, and although I had had no particular intuition about the sex, it seemed very fitting.
So what do we know about him at this non-verbal stage? He’s a bit of an individual. His trademark hair started growing wildly before he was born and has been on an up-and-away trajectory ever since (it’s brown with an unexplained blonde patch above his left ear). He likes things loud and up close. His transport mode of choice is bum-shuffling. He is a people person and his least favourite thing is being left to his own devices for too long. He is often torn between receiving hugs, which he loves to be at both ends of, and being held the other way around so that he can see what’s going on. He is not particularly patient or interested in sedentary activities. He’s got a smile for everyone.
I look forward to discovering more about him when he starts sharing his no-doubt fascinating insights (the other day his brother said to me: ‘I like your strawberry hair’ – ?). In the meantime, Happy Birthday, Baby-No-More. 🥰
Last night we watched the first episode of the new Game of Thrones. It’s about what I expected – sex, violence and scheming. I didn’t think the premise was hugely original (‘king doesn’t have an heir, pretenders fight it out’), and I’m a bit bored with the strong young female thing, but I won’t mind watching some more of it. I was pretty glad I wasn’t about to give birth, though, I’ll say that…
I finished my hat at the same time. This one I’m happy with!
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