ThePickards
standards, accessibility, and ranting and general stuff by the web chemist

It seems like quite some time ago when my older child was born, but it was only three years ago yesterday. I’m therefore doing a little recap to show you through some of the photos of how he has changed in that period, in much the same manner as I did for his little brother Sean on his birthday. First up, we have a picture of Bryn with a shock of dark hair, sat on the sofa at about six months old. It wasn’t so much that his hair grew quickly — it was just that from the moment he was born he had so much hair that he looked as though he needed a haircut.

In the second picture, Bryn is about eighteen months old and is just waking up from a little nap in his pushchair. It’s a bright day so he’s got sunglasses on and he looks as though he’s simply trying to be as cool as possible. This photo was taken when we were on holiday in Edinburgh, the day after he’d been to the zoo for the first time (and slept through it, mostly, apart from the ice cream).

Bryn’s eagle eyes can spot a Thomas the Tank Engine or Bob the Builder ride from seemingly anywhere in the same building, and it doesn’t taken long before you’re dragged towards it, along with any friends or family members who happen to have been in the wrong place and the wrong time. And then everyone has to hand over as much money as they possibly can, so Bryn can have repeated goes on the Bob the Builder or Thomas ride. You’ve really just got to hope that some other parent turns up with their children wanting a turn at some point, otherwise there is a risk you could be there all day!

…and our final picture of Bryn in this section was taken in Edinburgh again on our recent trip to Edinburgh Zoo. The climbing frame pictured is housed right next to the penguin enclosure where Gentoo penguins, Rockhopper penguins and King Penguins are either waddling around on the surface, or swimming with such beautiful grace in the water that I get absolutely transfixed and could watch them swimming all day. Bryn however had no such sentimentality. Once he’d seen that the penguins were there, and that they weren’t doing much, the climbing frame held much more interest. From the number of children on the climbing frame and nearby parents (all anxious to get on and see the animals, that being the main reason that they’d come to the zoo in the first place), it appeared we weren’t the only ones in this situation. Still, he enjoyed the zoo, and didn’t get thrown down the steps at any point, which was better than our bus trip the following day.

Finally, we have the Big Red Car Birthday cake, made by Bryn’s Grandma Jenny (also known as “me mam”). The Big Red Car is the vehicle used by The Wiggles, Bryn’s favourite TV characters, to move around. In fact, we had two different Wiggles DVDs playing simultaneously in different rooms for the majority of the party, which was a little disconcerting, as was watching the Crocodile Hunter “big Steve Irwin” (as The Wiggles sang) on the Wiggly Safari DVD, because for most of the adults the “he’s dead now, you know” thoughts kept popping into our heads, spoling our, ahem, enjoyment of the Wiggles songs. I don’t think it bothered the kids much, though.

As for my mother, she’s reknowned for her cake-making skills, as friends, family and work colleagues have all called upon her at one point or another to make something spectacular. For example, she also the Pussycat Cake for last year’s birthday; and made a cake in the shape of a sailing vessel (complete with masts and rigging) for Grandad Ray’s (my wife’s Dad) 70th birthday party (but I can’t dig out a photo off-hand). So far as I’m aware she’s not taking orders however!

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 22nd, 2006 at 3:52 am and is filed under Life, The Pickards. You can follow responses via my RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your site.