Day 51

Such a cold and rainy morning for our little Moon's first birthday!  She woke up at quarter to seven, which was just before the actual anniversary of her birth a year ago at 7.53!  She woke up cheerful and chirping away in her little bird-language.  (A year ago Stuart was sleeping on the floor next to Emma's bed while she was in hospital, and woke up feeling dazed and bewildered from all the events of the night, thinking that he was at the seaside, confusing the cries of newborns with those of seagulls!)
We had another long walk along the river Thames from Wandsworth to Putney this time.  Luna slept part of the time, and then when we stopped to feed a swan, some ducks and gulls, she woke up and took an interest.  She is still spotty but beginning to look a bit more normal, poor little Lunes.

The smaller spotted birthday-girl, seen on the banks of the Thames River.

Herring gull lands on the tidal water of the Thames.

Daffs!

It's spring in England already!

The Beauteous Evening  on the River Thames.

All you need is LOVE.

The Thames is a wonderful river which is the second longest in England.  The part we walk along is the Tidal River, and experiences the tides of the English Channel.  The entire Thames River has a path next to it called the Thames Path, which can be walked and cycled and enjoyed by many many people.  It was opened in 1996, and goes about 260km, from Kemble in Gloucestershire, where the source of the Thames is located, to the Thames barrier at Charleton. 

Before bridges were built, the Thames divided tribes, described by Julius Caesar.
The Thames was one of the busiest waterways in the world in the 1800s.
The Thames used to be filthy, and in the 1300s toilets were even built on bridges above the water which then emptied directly into the water, until the stench became so unbearable that the king issued an edict to try to clean up the area.
In the 20th century the river became severely polluted but a huge cleanup was instigated and today there is so much wildlife in the river, including a rare type of seahorse!
Many artists have used the river as inspiration, particularly artists like William Turner and James Abbott McNeill Whistler.
The water flowing past your eyes as you walk is a great calming influence, which is probably why city people walk next to it as often as they can.

And now for something man-made, and different.
Things you absolutely need for babies:
- A wipes warmer - yes, a contraption that WARMS the wipes that you wipe the baby's bum with!

- A baby bathtub

- A seat that attaches to the bottom of the bath so that the baby does not inadvertently fall over.

- A fabric cover for the baby-seat in a supermarket trolley/carriage.

- A nursing/breastfeeding pillow.

- Feeding products designed to give dads the "experience of breastfeeding".

- The Thudguard.

These are some of the ridiculous things that new parents are told they require for good/brighter/happier/healthier children!

Good grief is all I can say.  And poor gullible new parents!
 
A wipes warmer?  Seriously?  Firstly you are taking part in the desecration of the earth by adding to the landfills.  Whatever happened to a good old-fashioned cloths and water?

You don't need a weird baby bath.  You have a perfectly good bathtub in your bathroom.  I put all my babies on their backs in an inch of water in the big bath from when they were very tiny, after they outgrew the sink, and as a result they all love water and were never scared of getting their faces wet and all learned to swim at the age of three!

While a seat with suction cups on the bottom is useful, you sit with the baby anyway, so why not just let the baby sit in the real bath, with more water surrounding him/her?

A trolley seat-cover is the height of germophobia!  Children need some germs to build up immunity.  I would put one twin in the seat and the other would stand up in the actual trolley when we went shopping, and they would partake of the odd bar of cheese or pound of butter when I wasn't looking.   I can't really believe that someone even thought of and marketed this successfully!

A breastfeeding pillow?  All you need is a pillow, one of the ones you already have in your house.

A breastfeeding device for dads?  Surely they should just be happy that they don't have to wake up every few hours for the first year or however long you breastfeed your baby for.  If the baby is formula-fed, the dad can feed them the same as anyone else.

A thudguard?  How on earth is the child ever going to learn to avoid sharp-cornered tables etc.?

Luna loves shoe boxes in which she can pack all her dad's cd covers, and then unpack them again.
She loves the cupboard with all the pots and pans in the same way.
She loves all cupboards actually, and will unpack anything.
She loves books, and will sit with a pile for a relatively long time in terms of her age of 1 year exactly.
She loves to walk along holding on to the couch, plop down on all fours and crawl off in the direction of her mother, who is the MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE WHOLE WORLD to her, which is as it should be, and on the way she will pick up small virtually invisible pieces of fluff, or tiny portions of toast she dropped at breakfast, and eat them.
She loves singing songs and clapping hands.
She does NOT really like to sit for a long time in the pram.