It was a quiet lounge room that greeted us this evening. No different to normal you might say, yet a stark departure from recent experience.
The difference?
The chuckling, gurgling, babbling of a baby content with her lot in life!
And what a surprise it is to hear those words pass my lips. Five years ago I would have claimed it to be not only unlikely but nigh on impossible, and yet here we are with a reluctantly empty house and memories to last a lifetime.
Long time friends may be wondering if there’s something we should be revealing at this point. A secret birth? Adoption options fulfilled? Perhaps the plunge into foster caring…?
Nothing so heavy for these two self-professed puppy loving, child-free 37 year olds that wouldn’t recognise the sound of a ticking clock if it bit them on the arse! Instead, we had the pleasure of the company of our two best friends and their absolutely gorgeous newborn, Penelope.
Trying my absolute hardest to be unbiased, I swear she is the cutest, happiest (except on a certain drive to Castle Zayee!) and good-natured 6-month old I’ve ever come across in my life. Always up for a game of hiccup-inducing peek-a-boo, gummy smile from ear to ear when you walk through the front door, and cheeks so rosy she could light up a room…it was an absolute joy to have her in our life for the last five fleeting days.
We haven’t had many opportunities to interact with small-fry throughout our lives, and to be honest the thought of having a baby in the house was nigh on terrifying! While our fears were completely unfounded, we learnt a hell of a lot!
I’m sure this is old news to all you jaded parents, but here I present to you, the 9 Awesome Things I’ve Learned About Babies…!!
- Hair is fascinating – Who knew those wispy strands of red could hold such an attraction to a small child with a vice-like grip?! There’s hours of fun right there!
- Dinosaur Train has the catchiest theme song of all time!
- Camera lens caps make for an awesome game of “don’t-tell-the-tall-dude-but-we’re-playing-hide-and-seek”
- Keeping a baby happy comes down to a check list – On the ground? Pick her up. Already in your arms? Put her down. No toy? Give her one. Already got a toy? Give her a better one (preferably Sophie the Giraffe!). No dummy? Give her one. Is it the one with the vampire teeth? Give her the other one. Sing a song? Change her nappy? Put her to bed? Still no success? Rinse and repeat… 🙂
- Hoot wears blue
- Babies can be fun to watch…kind of like 3D reality TV
- There must be scientific studies showing that babies love massive heads and big eyes on their TV cartoon characters
- No matter what, you can guarantee their mood will change faster than Tassie’s weather!
- Despite all these incredible positives, I’d still rather be eating my breakfast and browsing Facebook than trying to convince a small child to squeeze out a poo at 7am in the morning!!
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, we got to catch up with old friends, and little Penny seemed to have a ball as well. What a trifecta! It’s a shame she probably won’t remember any of this trip, but we’ve no doubt she’ll be back again creating the first inklings of memory in that tiny sponge of hers. In the mean time, here’s hoping she’s a mobile wrecking ball in six months time when we make the trip back to Adelaide!!
To Penny, the precious gift we never knew we needed, and her two amazing parents that have been through so much to be where they are today, thoroughly deserving every happy moment!
