Of continued blogging. There was a cat in a tree outside our three story kitchen window this afternoon. Baxter just about died. We saw Tom for a beer at the Southern Cross later and Baxter told him about it. The telling went “Mao! Baby!”.
(By way of explanation, we call this particular neighbourhood cat Baby Mao, because she is a baby mao. I knew what he was talking about.)
You may be asking where we have been. Well, where have we been, little bean? We’ve been pretty busy. Work and creche and family and home-maintenance and mao (cat) spotting.
I’ve also been wondering about the purpose of this blog. I was at it for about a year non-stop and it certainly played a major role in me surviving those first months at home on my own with this strange little baby and what felt like no purpose. Writing, and writing about Baxter, made it seem as delightful in life as it appeared on screen. It was also a good place to get some thoughts down and let people know what it was really like for me. But then I got in to Google analytics (reader numbers) and I began watching Baxter with a view of what would be right for the blog.
And then there’s the whole Tumblr thing. For non-Tumblr people this may not make sense – this online community was originally interesting and stimulating, but most of it now seems a bit strange. So the Baxter stopped being quite so much about simple stories about the common, but scary, journey of bringing up a boy, and about me getting readers and making people laugh and keeping people interested.
But really, the whole thing is meant to be about letting people, like my dad up there in the picture, and my friends from all over, and of course other parents, know what this is like and what’s happening with Baxter. It’s also meant to be something we can look over and see how much our little boy has grown.
Things like how at 21 months:
He’s talking in two word “sentences” a lot now. For example, ” ‘ello boat” and “mama toast”.
He’s very assertive and if he wants the whole room to jump, he will get the whole room to jump.
He’s left-handed for sure and still loves doing strange little drawings of maos (cats).
He loves feeding birds.
He laughs like a maniac when he farts.
He really likes Thomas the Tank Engine.
He still adores hanging out with Lucas or “Doookas” as he likes to call him, his little buddy from downstairs.
He’s a very wiry, energetic little boy with golden curls and puffy cheeks, and cupid bow lips. I can’t quite believe us ugly mugs created him.
So, I think I’ll keep with the blog thing after all. And I’ve given up on analytics, so it doesn’t matter if anyone reads this. And it doesn’t matter when I write, as long as I write. Right?
Baxter has become a drawing fiend. I wish I could transport one of his pictures on to here, but they’re all done the old fashioned way - on paper, with crayons.
He’s really big in to giant swirls at the moment. He likes to keep his drawings on one piece of paper and after a few wall-meets-crayon mishaps, he knows to ask for “pabar”. He also likes for us to draw with him. He’ll ask you to draw a “mao” (cat), a car, a star, a digger, a baby, a fish … He even drew his own mao tonight. It looked like a squashed snail, but there was some substance there.
He also likes doing these tiny little doodles with pen. I think it may be him writing.
I’m often wondering what Baxter will be good at or interested in when he grows up. He likes bikes and wheels so I wonder if he’s going to be a Lance Armstrong or Tony Hawk, he likes singing so I decide he’s a musical genius, and now art so of course he’s the next Picaso, or Hotere, or whoever.
It’s interesting how quickly you can fall in to being ‘that kind of parent’. I can understand it though, I’m searching for answers to who Baxter is, and who he is going to be. It’s simple to use labels you already know, and you love your child so much it’s easy to start thinking they must be shining like this for all.
A toddler is such a mystery. I just have no idea what’s going through his head and we’re having a few moments where he says something to me and looks at me expectantly but I have no idea what he’s saying. That person who he is, and is going to be, is starting to unravel. It’s going to be an amazing process to watch. And I wouldn’t mind if that person did turn out to be an artist, even a struggling one. We’ll keep the crayoning going.
Life with a boy, well my boy, equals a lot of time spent on vehicles. Baxter’s favourites are bikes, diggers and buses, BUT today he learned to say dozer (as in bulldozer) after watching this video. And then watching it again. And then again. Lucky for him the song is amazing, and the voice bit at about two minutes a delight. Watch it even if you don’t have a small child, you’ll be tickled.
The digger one is pretty sweet too. Watch out Hot Chip!
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