Friday 19 October 2012

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall and Other Endlessly Fascinating Things


Last weekend Giovanna, LHG and I had a lovely break in the West Country with his Aunty Carmela and Uncle Simon (formerly named C and S on this blog, but they’ve told me I’m allowed to name them). The weather was kind to us and we had a lovely time eating, walking along beaches and getting lost in a maze. Little LHG enjoyed it all, but among his pleasures was the simple one of looking in a full length mirror that Carmela had propped up against one wall. Every time he passed it he’d turn and regard the other baby, lifting his hand to it, only to find a barrier. I don’t think he’s quite got the idea that it’s him yet, which apparently comes around the 18 month mark.

Seeing him stare into Carmela’s mirror reminded me of an incident three or four months back when Pa and I took him into John Lewis to look at clocks. Next to the clock department they keep the mirrors, big and small, fancy and simple, so I wheeled him round them to keep him occupied. Poor soul, he didn’t know where to look first. There were babies everywhere and they all looked the same. What’s more, they all had a pushchair and a nonna that looked like his!

What a strange and fascinating place the world must be to a baby. It makes me wish I could come afresh to it like that, to have that wide-eyed wonderment every few seconds as some brand new experience is rolled out. Even the leaves on the trees, waving around in the wind, are an endless source of wonderment to LHG.

As for the clock, we intended to buy a small mantle-type one to put on one of the bookshelves in the living room. What we ended up with was a huge black, distressed clock face to put on the wall. It sat for a day or two on one end of the L-shaped settee. LHG kept eyeing it up with relish. At the time he was at the walking-along-holding-on-to-things stage. Eventually he shuffled his way round from the end of the seating where his toys were, to where the big round thing sat at fondling level. The temptation when he reached it was too much and his little fingers stretched out to pull at the clock hands. At this point he was whisked up and back to his toys, only to start the process again.

Ah yes, such an endlessly fascinating world for babies, and so much of it sadly out of bounds.

Just five days now until LHG’s little cousin, Teeny Rastafeeny is due. So far there’s been absolutely no indication that he’s about to pop out, but hopefully I’ll have some news soon.








1 comment:

  1. I loved this. It's so true that children lose their sense of wonder, and the materialistic world we live in with all its artifice accelerates the process. I do worry that children are no longer allowed to interact with the natural world.
    Actually, some of the thoughts you express made me think of Wordsworth and his ideas on childhood imagination and how, somehow, in maturity, we lose that.So many parents make the error of offering too much artificial stimulation, whereas, as you so rightly point out, children can gain so much pleasure and reward from the simplest things. AJ

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