baybeasts

Today is Arlo’s first birthday. At this very moment as I type, we’ve had him in our lives for exactly one year and one hour. Every moment has been so precious, from those first hours in the dim hospital room snuggled into us, through the rollercoaster of the early months when he was so unsettled, to the blooming of the bright, passionate child who now fills our days with books and cuddles and pointing and fun.

I really wanted to write more about Arlo at one year old - his unsteady walking, his crooning as he cuddles us or Huey or the cat, his delight in sound effects, his passion for books and ability to point out all manner of objects and incessant requests for the names of things - the list goes on and on, but I am so tired at the end of a big day that I only have energy for a retelling of the day.

We started by going out for breakfast, then came home and frantically iced the cake (nearly a disaster! the strawberries just would not stay put and had to be replaced with hundreds and thousands at the last minute) while the boys slept before heading out. We planned the party around what we thought Arlo might like. So we had cake at a cafe, who coped remarkably well with the influx of small children and their parents. Both boys got their first taste of the good stuff:

Then we headed to a playcentre which was hell on earth - loud, crowded with frantically playing children, and impossible to have a conversation with anybody. We hated it. Arlo and Huey, on the other hand, had a ball. Both babies quite happily wandered off in the toddler section and played with whoever and whatever was around. It amazes us how independent they are at times (and how needy at other times, like when we want to go to the toilet, for example).

We invited just a small group of people who have been important in Arlo’s life so far - friends with children he plays with regularly, the two friends who cared for him when I was in labour with Huey, and the boys’ donor and his wife and little boy. And bean’s uncle and aunt drove six and half hours to be here this week! They are the stars of our family - we’ve written about bean’s mum, and my family were spectacularly crappy today too. Not one of them called to wish Arlo happy birthday, and my cousin, who is the only one who lives in the same city, forgot to come to his party. Having bean’s aunt and uncle drive all that way and be here to play with the boys and help us prepare stuff and just be around has been a wonderful balm.

It wasn’t the perfect birthday, but it was pretty great. We’ve learnt a few things, and Arlo had a lot of fun so we achieved our main objective. We have a history of being rather bad at birthdays, but we’re determined to get better, and today was a good start.