It’s all too easy to keep on thinking about your baby as if they were still merely just days old. Hanging on to those glorious moments that the first few weeks and months provide is something I’m sure every parent does. There is a subconscious unwillingness to believe that our little ones are growing up right before our eyes, and although each new achievement is received with wonder and amazement, we perhaps still refuse to address the fact that we can’t keep them that way forever.
Having not really had any exposure to babies before we had Thea, it’s been an education for me to see how much she can understand, even at such a young age. Over the last year we’ve seen her learn to do such things as smile, laugh, wave, blow kisses, and even attempt to make a phone call! However it didn’t really dawn on me until a couple of days ago how much she actually understands. I recall watching a programme called “The Secret Life Of Babies” where if I remember rightly they said that a baby can understand on average, roughly 20 words by the time they are one year old. I guess I must have forgotten that of late, but Thea gave me another jaw-dropping moment as she worked her way through her newest picture book…
As I swore in amazement, it really made me take a step back and think about how much more she must be able to understand without necessarily being able to communicate it back to us. In our house, with the constant banter that goes back and forth between Gemma and myself, the language used could be described as somewhat colourful – okay, it’s like a docker’s canteen in here at times. Looks like we’re really going to have to watch what we say from now on…
Lovely to see Thea in action Jimmy. I remember doing all of that with my both girls, but without the video for posterity. Love your writing so accessible..a real voice. And there cant be many men recording the growing up of their young ones. Look forward to the next one…Jill