He was also made an involuntary Munster Supporter (although I would like to think he would have chosen Munster himself later anyway) and we somehow got into the habit of finding out where photo opportunities might be and got his picture taken with many of the Munster greats over the months. There can be little else to do when you are on maternity leave looking for something entertaining while everyone else is working!
August 2009
August 2010
He even made an impression on Paul O'Connell after I mentioned to him that Patrick's nickname was Sproggy. I guess a name like that is not something you easily forget and Paul once even asked when he saw me how Sproggy was doing!
While he might have sat up by himself and crawled and walked late-ish, I remember him having his pincer-grip down to a T from very early on.
He seemed to be intrigued by fiddly things and would spend loads of time trying to do up the clips of his high chair or safety harness. He eventually refused to have the safety harness on him to walk around the shopping centre. He'd stage a sit down protest (in a quiet, Sprogsy-like fashion again) and would not get up and walk around with it on him - but he loved playing with the clasps.
When it was time to return to work, Patrick took to his creche like a duck to water. It had been recommended to me by my boss and friend and so I have to say, I was not at all teary when dropping him off there for the first time. I knew he would be in very good hands and he always was. He loved it there. When he started, his preferred method of getting from A to B was by rolling. In the creche, he tended to roll underneath the radiator...they found him there a number of times. :)
Due to a few bouts of ear infections, Patrick had grommets fitted in June 2010 and from the next day on you could see the difference in him. His speech came along and he babbled much more than before and maybe it also did something for his balance as he started walking shortly after.
He loved animals and continued to love books, in particular ones about animals and in particular again books with sheep in it. Patrick had a farm yard tales book a friend gave us and we used to read a couple of those stories most nights for bed time.
Bedtime was Pat's thing. He put Patrick up to bed most nights and loved that routine. Quite often, he'd read him a story named “Me and my Dad” which is a wonderful story about a Daddy Bear and Small Bear and what they do together. In the end, we knew it off by heart and recited it to him. We did that too for the 3 nights we had Patrick at home with us after he died. Pat still goes into his room and closed the curtains last thing at night and opens them in the mornings. It is a ritual that has become important to him, I think.
Patrick sort of fell into his own sleep time routine around the 4-5 month mark. He'd get sleepy by 7 or 7.30 and all he'd want then was his bed. Sometimes, there would be a happy smile on his face when he'd get to put his head down on his pillow in the cot. There was rarely any trouble getting him to sleep unless he was feeling off which did not happen too often once the ears had been taken care of. He often crawled up the stairs to bed by himself and seemed genuinely happy to get to sleep.
Patrick also liked his food. He'd eat well in the creche and well enough at home. We tried to give him mostly home cooked things as he had never been a fan of jars anyway. Oddly enough, he loved broccoli and could happily polish off a fine portion of it; a vegetable that his daddy very much dislikes.
Little tots are just so much fun to be around, especially when their speech comes along and you can interact with them on a whole new level. Patrick would bring you books to read. He'd get you to play with him; do his farm yard jigsaw, hide some of the pieces under a couch cushion and pretend to be surprised to see them gone and all sorts of mischief.
He'd try to help with sweeping the floor and even though we got him his own set, he preferred mammy's Vileda telescopic sweeping brush that we could adjust to his size. He'd meddle with my washing machine also when I wasn't looking and I'd be forever wondering why that spin cycle never took off until I noticed someone had switched it off!
Interestingly, Patrick also closely inspected the safety latches on the doors for under the sink and the delph. If they were ever left open – he'd go right ahead and close them. Either a very safety conscious act or purely innocent.
Patrick learned all the animal noises and his daddy was very good in teaching him those. For a while, everything was BAAAA – but he did eventually learn the others too although the sheep still remained a firm favourite. He said Mammy and Daddy and to hear that was precious to us. He also had a few German words. A wonderful memory of ours is when we had put Patrick in the car after visiting a good friend and she looked in and said to him: “Later Dude” and he grinned at her and repeated: “dude” in the cutest ever way. She was fair chuffed to have been the one to teach him that!
One day he surprised patients at the local GP's with his level of vocabulary at such a tender age. We had been waiting a while and young Patrick had provided all of the other people waiting with reading material. He was never shy and would go up to anyone and interact with them. He then brought a children's book to a lady and proceeded looking at it with her. There were animals in the book and he pointed at one and said: “Moose”. Indeed, it was a picture of a Moose and the lady was fair impressed until I said he knew the word because we had oven gloves with Mooses on them. :)
It is hard to summarise our little fella – there was just so much to him and there aren't enough words to do him and hist short life justice. He just showed such a wonderful little personality even that early on. In the creche, people commented how open and friendly he was. He'd go up to other parents picking up their kids and show them things. He just did not make strange with anyone really.
Yes, there were moments and days when we were glad when he was in bed. I'd be lying if I said that every day was easy and wonderful and no trouble at all; but overall he was an easy child to mind.
He had come along so much by January 25th...in his development and speech and personality. The baby was gone out of him and he was a fully fletched toddler. He had a few small sentences and spent his days soaking up information, I am sure.
We miss his little blond mop of curls.
We miss the way he said Mammy and Daddy and other words.
We miss the way he'd give hugs and kisses.
We miss his dimply smile
We miss the way we'd check on him at night, open the door ever so slightly and would have to back out really quickly if there was any sudden movement – for fear we'd wake him!
We miss the way our days had a routine that was sort of based around him.
We miss picking him up from the creche, full of smiles.
We miss taking him out to his grandparents on a Sunday.
We miss him asking to watch Shaun the Sheep or Timmy Time after coming home from creche. (his/my portable DVD player has been untouched since he died – still containing the DVD he last watched).
We miss not having him around anymore.
We miss him for who he was and for who he was going to grow up to be.
Maybe somehow he knew he was not meant to be around for long and maybe that is why he made his time with us so precious and memorable. We love him and miss him always.
