Daniel is big and heavy but surprisingly mobile and on the verge of crawling. He’s still bald, but he does have four teeth. Despite looking a bit like one of the Mitchell brothers, he is a big softy and cries sadly if you speak harshly to him or indeed anyone else in the room. He is also inclined to cry, if he wants a toy and does not get it. This is not generally a problem as he is big enough and mobile enough to grab everything within range and Michael doesn’t usually put up much of a fight. He is immensely strong, when things are not going his way, he bucks in your arms and it is quite difficult to hold him.
He was delighted with the effect clapping hands has on those around him initially. Alas, he’s been doing it for a while now and it doesn’t have the effect it once had. He claps his hands and says “bwaw, bwaw” looking around anxiously to check whether people have noticed his cleverness. When we come home from work, he bawls until he has reached the safety of a parental embrace. While this can be tiresome, the affectionate drooly kisses he then doles out are very gratifying.
Michael is a fascinating child to me. He has hair. Not a feature of my other children. He is almost uniformly sunny. Physically Daniel is very like the Princess and, I suspect, in personality also although, as you will appreciate, personalities are at a fledgling stage. I think that, if we treated Daniel as we treated the Princess, he would be every bit as clingy as she was at that age but we just don’t have the time or the energy for that, so he’s not. Michael, on the other hand, is hugely independent. Although he prefers to be held, he is usually quite happy sitting on the ground or in his highchair watching what’s happening around him. He is fond of his parents, but will go to pretty much anyone and bond happily. He loves to be tossed up in the air. He adores when his sister pushes and pulls him and tickles him. Daniel loves that too but he is more inclined to be wary (smart boy) whereas Michael is indifferent to the danger. He is also indifferent to tone of voice. “No Michael” said in a stern voice elicits gales of laughter while his brother collapses in sobs at the brutality and ghastliness of it all.
When instructed to do so Michael will open and close his hand. This is his party piece but, unlike Daniel with his hand clapping, he doesn’t seem to care very much about its effect on other people, there is just so much fun and entertainment out there, who cares about hand opening?
On the whole, they are extraordinarily easy babies and very easy to love, lucky us. I am amazed that in such a short space of time they have become such very different little people and I feel that perhaps they may need to have their own separate categories in this blog shortly. The excitement out there is palpable.
In other news, we had our first ever parent-teacher meeting today and we sat on tiny chairs and heard Madame Marie say that our child is a genius, we know, we know. A very chatty and bossy genius, we know that also. Apparently when Madame Marie leaves the class for a moment, the assistant says it is as though she hadn’t left because the Princess takes over instructing, reprimanding, organising. What I find entirely astonishing is that, it appears, her class mates are generally willing to bow to her will. The fools, the fools – no wonder she is so imperious though.