Alder's Tone

There are others out there - the G's approaching their first Christmas (they got a lot more notice of this event than we did), and many other bumps out there that we know and love won't make it in time, or only just in time, this year.

His real, and I guess only "first... second" would have to be the fireworks. He had a late night pass especially for them. Last year he was only a couple of months old, in a Baby Bjorn strapped to his mother's chest, all fully wrapped in her fleece, and slept through the whole thing.

This year, he was wide awake. Oh yes, he was wide awake. The countdown... 5...4...3...2...1 ...0

As the floodlights went out he was watching the other kids with their glowsticks. The whoosh of the first big opening firework going up did nothing for him. The huge bang as it burned in ball of multiple colours - that got a reaction. His reaction was absolutely amazing. Really fantastic. He just lifted his head slowly towards the sky, looked up for a second or two, then looked back down at the glowsticks. A total non-event.

By the third big bang he realised there was actually somthing going on up there worth watching, so sat on my shoulders quite happily. Still keeping one eye on those glowsticks, he did enjoy the rest of the display. The finale came, he bounced up and down on my now tiring shoulders, and clapped when everyone else did. I am sure that last loud bang was my shoulder popping from it's socket as he jumped at what was a througoughly enjoyable night.

So there we have it, Baby's first... second thing. It's all just a numbers game from here, I'm sure of it. Must get him watching Countdown...

And now that we have officially declared his first second to be fireworks, he can't have another first second. Which rules Christams out in this category. I hope I can wipe it out of every category. Bah humbug!