Piglet is now showing some interest in other children and babies.
Not, however, as much interest as other children are showing in him.
Today for example, we were on a train to Bath. This is the same train, I might add, that Piglet demanded to be walked up and down repeatedly last week, prompting me to say in an attempt at being strict at the beginning of this particular journey, “we’re only going to be on here ten minutes today, you know. No walking on the train!” The usual exhortation is of course “NO CRAWLING!” which is now pretty much my catchphrase. No crawling in the restaurant, no crawling in the train station, no crawling on the bus. I am completely unreasonable when it comes to the Rules of Crawling. Luckily, on this occasion, Piglet was content to amuse himself by poking a tiny hand through the gap between the seats behind, and stealing another passenger’s bracelet.
Then another child suddenly popped up next to us, with her mother, having walked from another carriage just to take a look at “the baby.”
This is not an uncommon occurrence in Piglet’s life, and he is usually nonplussed. I, however, am sometimes not, such as the time a toddler actually clung onto the front of Piglet’s pram in our local library when he was asleep, and I practically had to prise him off and use my best Stern Teacher Voice while his mother sat looking on and ignoring the situation, and even more alarmingly, the time a little boy with chicken pox (THE ACTUAL POX) stroked Piglet’s face-encouraged by his mother, no less-in Kings Cross Station. Given that Piglet wasn’t even three months old at the time, I wasn’t quite ready for a chicken pox party.
Also today, in the park, Piglet had an interesting introduction to some of the apparatus when pretty much everyone in the park under the age of five came running over to him to all pile onto the same piece of equipment that he was tentatively grasping (holding on for dear life) at the same time, rapidly trailed by various mothers shouting “GIDEON! PLAY NICELY PLEASE! THAT BABY’S ONLY LITTLE!” Unfortunately, I was unable to capture a picture of his bewildered face in time, but here he is recuperating on the giant swing.
At the moment all Piglet is able to do is gaze at other children with a mixture of awe and terror, which means that the most fun he has had all day was playing a game which involved crawling backwards and forwards through Mummy’s legs for ten minutes. It evidently didn’t tire him out, as he was up until 10.45pm dancing to the tunes that the baby walker plays.
I need to take him to the park more often.
I laughed all the way through this post, reminds me of when my first was toddling around, me trying to protect him from the pokey fingers of the older ruffians. Now my 2nd is only 18mnths but since he’s the ruffian I just let him get on with it (within reason) ?
Haha, Piglet was just bemused by the ruffians. He likes to keep himself to himself I think! Thanks for commenting.
Spud is obsessed with babies and toddlers. I have to keep him in check at the park, as he always wants to push them on the swings!
Never had older kids be rough with mine as babies, but once a woman allowed her five little dogs jump into monkey’s pushchair. I was not happy!!
OMG that’s awful. Poor Monkey must have been terrified! To be honest, the kids at the park weren’t being rough, the parents were just being cautious. I did once have a toddler cling onto the front of Piglet’s pram when he was a baby and refuse to let go though. His mother did nothing!