To my dearest littlest,
I feel much more emotional writing this on the evening of your birthday than i thought i would, which to be fair could be down to the bubbles we had at 4.43pm. You are now a whole year old and lay sound asleep upstairs, tired from your crazy day of trying to eat wrapping paper, gazing at fishes and thumping cake.
The big shiny balloon tied to the wheel of your new fire engine has been the star or the show, as we knew it would, which is to the great delight of your big brother who claimed said fire engine as his own, as we knew he would.
We’ve had a lovely but funny old day, lunch at JB’s diner and then to the aquarium on the seafront. Had we of realised how terrible the weather would be we probably would have stayed closer to home. I had to hold onto the buggy for dear life and your brother was terrified and couldn’t keep his feet on the ground. Still i guess its the stuff memories are made of :)
We arrived at the aquarium absolutely bedraggled and soaking wet but you loved the fish making it immediately worth it. We’ve been before but this time you were so much more absorbed, pointing away and chatting at all the brightest colours as they swam past.
Its been much change for you over the last couple of weeks, your personality and involvement in everything around you is growing by the day. You helped me wash your brother’s hair in the bath yesterday which i enjoyed, him not so much. You say ‘Mama‘ and ‘Daddin‘ and i think ‘Teddin‘ too. Replacing the ‘y‘ on the end of words with an ‘in‘ is exactly what F did.
You took your first steps a week ago, you know it’s clever and you toddle between us laughing and giggling and looking at our faces for approval. First two, then three or four and i think we got a five or six yesterday! It’s so strange that it was at exactly the same stage that F took them too, 51 weeks to the day. It’s actually scary at times how similar you two are.
You like:- playing with doors, your toothbrush, other peoples toothbrushes, laughing, sticking your fingers in our mouths, beards, pesto pasta, blueberries, your sleepy sheepy, sucking your thumb, climbing the stairs, being chased, swings, pulling chunks of hair out of the cat, smiling at anyone who casts a glance your way, and the sound of the key in the lock when your ‘Daddin’ comes home.
You don’t like: – people taking your toothbrush away, being stuck in your buggy too long, having your nappy changed (one bit), getting dressed or Marmite (sort this out please.)
Toothbrush frickin crazy! Woe betide anyone tries to brush their teeth in front of you. The fact you may already have your own is irrelevant – you want ALL visible toothbrushes at ALL times.
We’ve been racking our brains for things to add to the don’t like list but you are just a pretty happy guy! Always smiling, always laughing, always on the go, wanting to explore everything and determined to the core, er again, just like your big brother at your age. You relationship with each other has also come on leaps and bounds and i still very much believe that one day soon you will be proper little buddies. Fingers crossed you will take over my ‘lets race cars’ duty anyway.
I am so looking forward to getting to know you more and more as your personality continues to bloom and you move from the baby to the toddler stage. But at the same time Its a little bitter sweet and i must admit there is a part of me that wants to freeze your chubby baby limbs and gummy grin in time.
You wouldn’t settle tonight at bedtime and so i ended up sitting with you cuddling you to sleep; something i have not done for a good long while. I wonder if you sensed things were changing too? Perhaps you wanted to let me know you were still my baby for a little while longer yet. Well that’s just fine with me my littlest, that’s just fine with me.
All our love to your little facey, forever and always xxx
**************
P.S. I have a new book OUT NOW! You can nab it on Amazon here or in your lovely local bookshop :)
Happy Birthday! He looks so proud of himself taking those steps too. Hope you have plenty of gin to celebrate a year since giving birth x x
Aw what a lovely post! Happy first birthday to your littlest. It sounds like a lovely day xx
Thanks Kiran x
So lovely. Happy birthday little pumpkin! x
Thanks Jess x
So cute! Happy Birthday to your little man :) xx
Thank you Dean :)
Beautifully written for a beautiful boy. Happy birthday x
Ah thanks Jo – hope all is well with your brood xx
Such a lovely post, and so true about wanting to keep the baby-ness just that little bit longer. Oh, and love what the S stands for (fab name!)
Happy Birthday little man xx
he he thanks – i was confused then but spotted what you did too! x
Ahhh, Happy Birthday!
Thanks susanna x
Aww happy birthday baby boy! Love the surplus n’s on the end of words! It’s little quirks like that that make blogging so great – you’ll never forget these little things – so precious. Walking already too – my Rosie is 1 next month, but I think she will be lazy like her sisters, they were all around 14 months.
One is a real milestone – but he will always be your baby of course xxx
For some reason i thought Rosie was older – well happy birthday to her for very soon too then x
What a gorgeous post! Happy first birthday. That last bit made me cry into my Cornflakes. Someone needs to invent that life remote control fast, don’t they? Xx
ha ha sorry Karen but yes they do! Let me know if you crack it x
Happy Happy First Birthday little one! Gorgeous photos and lovely words for such a little sweetie – I love the toothbrush obsession, it’s just so wonderfully quirky, pure personality shining through!
It so is – thanks Carie x
Awwww! sounds like you had a fabulously Happy Birthday…
Beautiful Katie, you can sense the emotion through it. Happy Birthday gorgeous boy. Let’s hope they stay babies for a while longer, LL seems like a baby to me still! x
I know I should leave some hugely emotional, lovely comment BUT how cute is that retro sofa?! And the fire engine? And the Spiderman jumper?!!
Happy Birthday! x
Aww what a tear jerker! Nothing gets me like a “growing up fast” blog!
Boy1 is toothbrush mad too! We have to buy multipacks of them cos they “go missing” ( in his cot!) x
Awww, congrats on a big milestone and lovely to record these memories. Happy Birthday little man!
Ahh this is so lovely. He reminds me of J who is obsessed with putting fingers in our mouth at the moment! He also loves pasta pesto and blueberries. Happy Birthday little man :) x
What an absolutely lovely post, my son is coming up to one soon and I am a little teary reading this! So lovely.. he is super cute too x
Happy belated birthday to your little man! Such a beautiful tribute to him!
Ahh Thank you Carin :) x
What a lovely emotional post. Baby S sounds a lot like my L, he is also toothbrush mad, loves chase and is a little charmer too. Give it a month and F & S will be chasing each other around or playing hide & seek under the covers. It’s lovely to see. x
Oh my goodness, what is it with our little ones and toothbrushes? Who knew they’d be the toy of choice for 2014. Happy belated birthday to the little man. Have your emotions calmed down yet? No more a baby :-(
Yep i’m just about there! He’s quite poorly at the minute though with swollen gunky eyes so he still seems very much a baby to me. And the toothbrushes – yeh – long may it continue. Small, cheap toys also good for dental health result :)
Oh this made me blub! Your little man is gorgeous and your words lovely. My littlest is ten months now and less like a baby every day, I just can’t believe she is almost one and want to cherish every second of her still being a baby. L x
Oh thank you :) I goes so much fate the next time round doesn’t it. On one hand i look forwards t getting to know him more and more and on the other i want to keep all that chub!! ;)
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