Thursday, August 02, 2007

Brown-hand Luke



You've probably heard of the 'farmer's tan', where one is tanned in the shape of one's t-shirt... well, the spud has a 'baby tan' in which the entire body, which is always covered in factor 50 and a layer of clothes, is as white as paper however the hands, slobbered on enough to remove sunscreen in 5 minutes, are brown. For proof of this, see very cute picture abovenof the spud happily wearing my hat. (I realise this picture is possibly only cute to members of the spud's family but there you have it, Motherhood for you).

I would hereby like to rescind the remarks I made a while ago about never being able to relax on the beach as long as the spud is a baby. Today, he played happily in the sand (without eating any) under the shade umbrella for hours. I mean it - he was happy for hours. We also took him for a paddle in the sea which he enjoyed very much, thank you. Amazing. I read half a book and the only worrisome moment was when he decided he was going to eat a whole peach from scratch and about 3/4 of the way through decided that a whole peach all to himself was clearly selfish particularly since Mummy was just lying there looking at that paper stuff and obviously needed sustenance. Once this bizarre thought had formed in his word-free head he was totally fixated and spent several minutes thrusting a cold, sticky, mainly-eaten peach into the vicinity of my mouth, getting it all over my book, my face, my arms and, confusingly, my back, necessitating a new visit to the waves.

I have discovered an excellent way to absorb a baby's attention for a considerable period of time. First, dig a hole in the sand about a foot deep and say 9 inches around. Your baby, should it be old enough, will be fascinated by this and will love packing down the sand which comes out of the hole and trying to toss it back in. Then, when your hole is done, stand the baby in it and read your book while it spends a glorious 15 minutes pulling sand into the hole and treading it down until the hole is shallow enough to crawl out of. Next, spend 15 more minutes washing the sand off the baby. Start again.

Time for bed here. Praying for a long night out of the spud who has taken to waking several times before dawn. Hopefully the sun and sand experience will help him snooze - if not that, then the three sips of normandy cider his grandparents encouraged him to take this evening might just do the trick...

11 comments:

Krissie said...

What is it with babies trying to feed everyone?

lady macleod said...

too adorable as always. on first glance I was thinking, "Can the poor dear lift his head in that hat? I mean I really am a stickler for sun protection but Sparx has gone quite mad." I am glad to read further and find it was a photo op.

enjoyed the tale.

PJ Lore said...

Very cute baby!

At least he seems fond of the hat. My daughter refuses anything on her head. So no cute photo ops like that for me.

Glad to hear the beach is relaxing and fun!

PJ Lore said...

Btw, thanks for the compliments about my site, it was nice to know someone read what I wrote! And I adored your post about the Boob Olympics! My daughter is a champ at it these days!

Elsie Button said...

what is it with grandparents and them trying to get babies pissed?! i bet he loved the normandy cider though! better than whisky in milk...

Sounded lovely on the beach - i felt quite envious!

The Good Woman said...

Not just a mom thing - a very cute pic. Wish I'd thought of that hole game a while back...

D-HOR said...

Ahh yet another tip for my ongoing compilation of tips for if I ever have a baby. Thank You.

Normandy cider? Is it liqour? Grandparents know lots about babies, I'll add that to my book too. ;)

(Omg he DOES for real have a funny tan - tooooo cute)

Sparx said...

Krissie - I don't know but he's definitely entered that stage. After putting the whole world into his mouth for months, now it has to go into ours for some reason!

Lady M, always lovely to have you in for a visit! He actually had the hat on for nearly 5 minutes, he seemed quite happy until it had to Come Off Right Now Mum!! The bonus is that he kept his own hat on all day with no complaints - perhaps he'd forgotten it was on and thought once he'd ditched mine he was hat free...

PJ - thanks again. I quite enjoy your blog, do keep it up.

Elsie - I don't know but it's definitely a thing... we have a pic of my brother aged about 1 and a half draining my grandad's beer glass...

Good Woman - it's a good one, we played it again yesterday with just as much enthusiasm!

Lindy - ah yes, cider is alcoholic. And he did sleep through the night... not sure if it's connected or not!

DJ Kirkby said...

Ah how sweet, that sunscreen must taste awful though!!!!!

Sparx said...

DJ - I don't know, he likes to chew on the bottle at the business end as well... Haven't tried it myself mind you!

Anonymous said...

holes in the sand are a mom's best friend hehe!