Two tomorrow
March 14, 2008 by piereth
My lovely Mouse is two tomorrow, and we’ve had talk of parties! cake! presents! all week. I’ve sent him off to nursery this morning with a large and chocolately cake in the shape of a caterpillar, candles for the girls to stick in the top, and perhaps inauspiciously, a pair of new cream-coloured trousers on! Oh well, what’s the worst he can do.
We were all snuggied up on the couch last evening, watching Poppins, and I realised that my baby has gone - he’s a person now. This I knew before, but he was doing person things, like tucking his toes under my ribcage to keep them warm, playing with the tag on my top, telling me what was going on and leaning on his hand because he was tired. I was absently stroking his hair while talking to Mr P about his day. We’re a family.
Then I was having my supper after Mouse had gone to bed, and watched a really excellent documentary on Channel 4 by Cutting Edge - Pramface Babies. It was about four teenagers from Manchester who had got pregnant accidentally, their births, hopes, dreams and what happened to them.
Of course, the predictable happened - I started sobbing like a lil girl with a skinned knee when the babies popped out and even remembering the pain, ignominy and manifest impossibility of the situation, I still wanted to get pregnant and have another baby, like, immediately. Now, this minute.
Perhaps I have hormones after all, and perhaps they really do work! And perhaps I’m as mad as a boiled squirrel! Yeah, that’s it.
You are not mad …you’re a mom! And I think, from reading your blog, that you’re a wonderful mom. They grow up fast and it’s nice to see that you’re enjoying every minute of it.
Oh, I just want a little baby to hold again. It’s not the same if they’re not yours. I want to fuss over them and although I don’t miss the night feeds I’d be so much more confident this time round *mew*
Uh-oh…once the baby bug bites I’m not sure you can resist
I feel like a total fraud, my resolve has gone south. Whatever happened to ‘only one’? Perhaps I’m maturing or something - I won’t give myself any credit for adult behaviour just yet in case it turns out to be one of my usual SNAFUs!
I have consistently wrecked my life by acting on the spur of the moment / doing what I wanted to do at that moment. I’m trying to change!!
Having a second one is a wonderful experience. It makes things both easier and a whole lot harder. They play together and they fight. There’s something impressive about how they aren’t the same. It completely opens one’s eyes to how idiosyncratic one’s view of children is based on only having one. I completely enjoyed being competent at changing diapers. But I didn’t enjoy some things. My first didn’t burp very easily. My second sprayed fluids everywhere. My first didn’t get bad diaper rash. My second got it so bad that the poor child’s bum looked like ground meat. That said, the cost doesn’t really seem to discount the way one might like. The chaos in the house isn’t just doubled. The effort of looking after one is a one-on-one attention thing but when looking after two, I’m outnumbered.
Haaa! I knew I could count on you for some unequivocal equivocation!
I need these insights. The only people I know with more than one child make it look so freakin easy. Some of them even tell you how easy it is. I trust them not!
I like the idea of the children being different. It’s clear they would be, but you’re right about the idiosyncracy of having one - you’ve not evidence to the contrary that your child is the acme, the perfect, the golden child and here comes another one who gives you, what? Perspective, I suppose. I need that!
Ground meat - poor little blighter *ouch!*