I won’t lie, I was very excited about the prospect of my first full night sleep in a hotel, with no baby interruptions. Unfortunately, due to the psychological trauma we had faced over the last few weeks, I woke up every hour startled, looking for a crying Little Bear. I probably felt more exhausted when I got back to London than when I set out… Since then, each time I’m abroad for work, I’ve been faced with mixed feelings: I’ve enjoyed the break, but also really missed my buddies (baby and his mamma) back at home...
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He was going to be (and still will be) my little buddy, strapped to dad's chest on our adventures together. All I would need was milk, a change of baby clothes and a few nappies, and we'd be ready. Whilst travelling, I was thinking of picking up a new language, seeing various friends spread across the country, and in between trips, carrying on with a part-time degree. He'll sleep loads of the day anyway...
What can we tell about future personalities from how babies act? Based on little evidence, I think sparks of their personalities are already starting to show at 5 months. Not having seen this all before, I could be totally wrong. But I think I'm seeing some clear signs of who the Little Bear might turn out to be...
It's not easy. Especially if your an native English speaker with poor language skills. Not hard like having a baby, that's mainly exhausting with lots of easy cool stuff at the end. It's more hard like learning to ski when you're in your 20s/30s...
My wife and I have very different attitudes to sunlight. I like it. She hates it. Unfortunately, being a winter baby, the Little Bear seems to be following his mother's opinion. Every time he gets exposed to light outside during the day (even in the shade) his little eye squint up and he'll start waving his tiny hands around in protest. Unlike during his first month or two, now when it's bedtime it's still light outside, and even with only a small crack of light coming through the curtains, he still complains and only sleeps with a melodramatic pose: his arm covering his eyes with his nose pointing upwards in protest. He can only cope going outside for more than a few minutes if we put a hand over his eyes or pull the hood fully over the pushchair. Even then, his normally happy face looks quite grumpy from the rays. Some people have said that we should 'just get him use to it' which sounds pretty cruel. 'Here little guy who only discovered his foot last week, I'll expose you to prolonged discomfort you can't escape from so that you can toughen up for the world...'. A slippery slope.
I would highly recommend sunnies for any winter babies.
During the whole thing, he barely moved at all, unless to whimper that he was hungry (every 30 minutes unfortunately for his mum). And he certainly didn't interact with anything around him, save the occasional stare into people's eyes.
In stark contrast, he now aptly grabs his toes while folding up into an agile yoga position, explaining to us that his feet are the most exciting thing since the discovery of his fingers only weeks earlier. By explaining, I mean rambling, squeaking and occasionally blowing raspberries: so copying his parents... |
AuthorI'm Dave, dad of Little Bear. Also known as 'Pappa' to the little man as we try and bring out his Swedish roots Categories
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