How on earth did it happen? The last time I checked, Jelly Bean was this tiny little bundle being handed to me wrapped up in a towel wondering what on earth had just happened to him. All of my babies are special, of course they are, they are my world but Jelly Bean’s arrival marked the last time that I would ever give birth. Even as I left the hospital with my newborn by my side I looked to the antenatal unit knowing that I would never again watch a baby on a screen who is wriggling around in my tummy.
Jelly Bean has changed so much during his first year. When he was first born I was convinced he was the spitting image of his sister but apart from the blonde hair that’s really where the major similarities end. He has big blue eyes unlike Little Bean with her green/brown eyes and Beanie Boy with his marble-like deep brown eyes and dark hair. Of course they all have a likeness to each other but Jelly Bean is so much more like Daddy than the others.
Jelly Bean has a good sense of humour much like Beanie Boy, they both ‘get’ humour. Little Bean is a little more serious like me but he does love a cuddle and I am only too willing to supply cuddles in abundance.
In the past couple of months Jelly Bean has really come to love music, especially a good dance tune. He has me in hysterics as he raises one arm in the air and shakes his bum from side to side. We can often be found shaking our ‘thang’ in the kitchen. All my beans love to dance, rather like Mummy and Daddy.
I love to sit back and watch each of my children play and I marvel at how different they all are, how they have different interests. Spending so much time together I assumed they would all like to do similar things, to play with the same toys but they each have their own ‘thing’. Curly has always enjoyed playing with figures, never ever cars, he likes to draw and create his own monsters and as he has got older he has discovered the joy that is Lego and gaming. Little Bean is a girly girl, she loves all things princess (or Monster High), pink, purple and sparkly. Like her big brother Little Bean is a big fan of Lego and has picked it up surprisingly quickly. Rather like her Mummy she will often be found with a pen or pencil in her hand, writing, drawing or crafting of some description. Beanie Boy likes his figures, little men, big men, monsters and aliens. He will play with his trains when the mood takes him and again he likes doing crafts but not to the extent that Little Bean does. Jelly Bean’s favourite toy at the moment is a box of wooden bricks we bought him for Christmas, all different shapes, colours and patterns. I have never ‘shown’ him what to do with them, I have simply placed the box in front of him and let him figure it out for himself. He tips them out all over the floor and one by one will pass them through his fingers with interest and then try passing them through the shaped holes in the lid, he amazes me.
Last week as we celebrated Jelly Bean’s first birthday I looked at just how far he has come. Unlike his big sister and brothers he did not walk before his first birthday. In fact I would go as far as to say he actually doesn’t seem interested in walking at all yet. He crawls at speed and for now seems happy with his mode of getting about. He stands pretty much everywhere he can but if you hold his hands to encourage him to walk he either lifts his legs or throws a strop. I figure he will do it when he is ready and honestly, who needs to walk when you can have siblings to do all the fetching for you?
It’s been a great year getting to know our ‘little man’ and I can’t wait to see what the next year has in store for him and our ‘now complete’ family. Life is an adventure and I have the best companions in the world to share it with, how lucky am I?!