First Contact

Monday 12th July

The baby sits upright and commandeers our bed with a growling pirate’s “Aaargh!” Then she blows a raspberry.
Last night I lay awake for two hours until one o’clock wasting time worrying. Then I tried self-hypnosis to get to sleep. Then I began making elaborate plans on how to start my on line business, selling MP3’s through my website www.hypnoticloop.co.uk. Worry is a waste of time. It’s better to channel that energy into something constructive.

However, on the whole I’m much more relaxed now that The Doctor is home. I’m still busy all day but I tend to be doing one thing at a time. For example, I’m doing the dishes while The Doctor takes Big Sister for a wee. I’m sweeping the floor while The Doctor encourages Big Sister to build a village with her blocks. The Doctor makes toast for the whole family while I’m changing the baby’s nappy. It seems to me that childcare and housework is a two person job. Multi-tasking is just stressful!

This afternoon the baby is upset, husky voiced, runny nosed and grizzly she looks at me with pleading eyes and murmurs,
“Mumumumum”.
The Doctor and I are excited, we think she is saying “Mum” for the first time!
“Oh baby, you feel poorly and you want your mum?” I say gently.
“Mum mum mum,” she replies. Big brown eyes, glassy with tears look up at me. My eyes fill with tears too as I look up at The Doctor’s proud face. We are spellbound by our baby’s first word.
“She said Mum!”
Emotion wells up inside me as this eight month old intrepid adventurer achieves her very first communication with language. We have contact, we are connected, we grow instantly closer to her as she takes one giant leap for baby-kind. We could not be more moved if she had walked on the moon. There is a quantum shift in the family dynamic as our tiny fourth crew member begins to speak our language.