The strange duality of time. It seems like Max has always been a part of our lives and yet the last year has flown. He is one! We had three parties, three cakes and three shots at blowing out the candles. He received many presents. A trike, many beautiful clothes, a clock, an inflatable cow space hopper, helium balloons, bubbles, boots, some jigsaws, two puppets and some cash to feed his SMA habit. He was well looked after. His birthday week was a forewarning of how it is possible to spoil a child.
The creche is putting manners on him though as there were three birthdays in his room in one week. This is not remarkable at all as the probability of such a thing is really high, given the timing of maternity leave and the availability of places in the creche and so on. Regardless of the odds, he was made to feel special but he had to share that feeling, as well as the birthday cake. This is also his last week in creche for a full month and a half. Some of it is holidays but the rest is going to be sole day-time paternal care. I will be the care-giver from 8am until 5pm daily. The planning has already commenced. There is a window of activity in the morning pre-nap and in the afternoon, post nap and lunch. There is not one baby friendly venue in Dublin I will leave unexplored and I promise to report it all here.
So how is he as he passes his first birthday? He is older more mature. He is much more interactive. He is smiling more, he is babbling more, he is stacking bricks, he is standing on his own two feet for a few seconds. He is developing a personality and it is quite fun.
One of the most consistent human interactions that he engages in is flirting. He responds and smiles at women far quicker and in a totally different way than he does to men. One of his standard reactions to a smile from a woman is to nod his head sideways. It looks like a wink. We cannot think of anything else it might be. He will pass a group of men without any comment but if there is a woman at a busstop, in a queue, in a restaurant he will nod, smile and laugh as if she is the most entertaining person in the world. So far this has not prompted any reaction from jealous husbands or children but it is only a matter of time.
So far Max has been pretty average. Very advanced, but very average at the same time. He has followed the patterns and trends suggested by the books and experts. But now, now that he is one, the books seem to enter a fantasy land. They suggest that he should be capable of feats of development that appear years off yet. I think the ones we bought must be missing a chapter or two where the babies just keep eating everything that they see and mauling everything that they can't eat. I am reminded of the scene in Parenthood where the ultra intelligent child is counting dots on a page and the slightly dim child is peeling them off and eating them. It will all come out in the end and we are very realistic. Though the goal of particle physicist may be off the table we can at least expect something in the engineering line. If he keeps winking at the ladies, he could well end up as a car salesman and there is nothing at all wrong with that!
Standing unaided is a big deal. It is obviously the precursor to walking but Max is a careful soul and has a bit of a way to go before he is ready to take any weight off a foot long enough for it to go anywhere. You have to remember that walking is effectively standing on one leg for a while. He pulls himself up, lets go and pauses. A glance at his feet will see them twitching. They flex and he wobbles a bit and they flex in the other direction and he wobbles a bit. At this point he has had enough and he sits back down. He hasn't fallen from this position yet and is showing no signs of letting himself fall. He will leave that up to unobservant or careless parents.
He is far more at home in the water and all of this swimming has paid off. He jumps in from sitting on the side and kicks and pumps his arms with great energy. It is still misdirected however as he sinks like a stone if he is not supported. We did put this to the test as he is comfortable under water, just not for very long. He still has a ridiculous reliance on Oxygen that we are trying to discourage. He is not as comfortable in the Atlantic Ocean. We tried this as well and if he could walk he would have run out of the water. Even with his wetsuit it was just too cold. He was far happier splashing in a rock pool.
He hasn't teethed in a while. This is very good for his parents sleep patterns but it leaves him with only 6 teeth. 6 sharp teeth. He thinks nothing of biting chunks off anything that doesn't taste of vegetable. So much so that there have been a few unusual appearances in the nappies. The blue foam was a surprise and the perfectly intact piece of cardboard with the print still legible was a complete mystery.
So there he is at one. All thanks to his, friends, family, grandparents and most importantly his wonderful mother who at this time last year was already and continues to be an excellent mum!
