Housework

All 3 of my children have chores to help me out as I work full-time.
 Kieron's jobs are drying up after dinner, hoovering downstairs and mopping the wooden floors weekly.
Kieron often gets out of the drying up as his older brother needs to wash up first and Kieron is often in bed by the time this happens. He's realised that if he can distract his brother long enough, the plates etc dry on the rack and that's one job dodged. When Kieron does dry up, he practically gift wraps individual items in a tea towel then spreads it all over the work top before running out of room.
Washing the floors is quite fun as the mop has a button he presses to send a wee-like stream of water over the floor. This leads to giggles about weeing on the floor and Kieron tries to aim at the cats.
Vacuuming needs to be monitored. Kieron tends to hoover himself, the cats, block the nozzle with stray pieces of Lego and anything else in his path. He also seemed to experience rather adult feelings! Kieron was hoovering in the lounge with the door shut. After he was cleaning for far longer than necessary, I opened the door to see him with a huge grin on his face and his willy stuck up the nozzle!! I collapsed in giggles, Kieron joined in and pranced around the room with the hoover still firmly attached to the front of his boxers. Afterwards, this episode became entrenched in family history as " do you remember when I stuck my willy up the hoover?". Yet another bittersweet memory.

Pregnancy

Reading the blog of a lovely lady who is nearing the end of her pregnancy made me think of mine with Kieron.

Kieron wasn't planned and I was in a very abusive relationship so after much soul searching I decided to terminate. However, when I went to see my GP and asked if the baby would feel anything, she refused to sign the papers. I am so glad she did.

Ignoring the relationship for the purpose of this blog which is about Kieron, not me, the pregnancy plodded on. I had tests for Down's Syndrome due to my age but thankfully got the all clear.

Kieron,even then, was very impatient and decided to be born 12 days early so I drove to the hospital and ended up crawling into the labour suite as I could feel him pressing down and getting lower. I had this vision of him falling out onto the hospital corridor. 1.52am Kieron was delivered onto me to be fed. Weighing 6lb 12 oz and 22cm long, he was the skinniest, hairiest baby I had ever seen. He was beautiful. 

Kieron slept in my bed at the hospital, although the nursing staff weren't happy about it. All my babies slept with me and had milk on demand through the night. Kieron was no exception.

I took Kieron home later that day and turned up at my parents' house to show off their newest grandchild. Jade had insisted that Grandad take her to the cake shop when he collected her and Callum from school so that she could buy her youngest brother a cake. When she realised that we were home already she and Callum became excited then shy alternately.

Jade and Callum though it hilarious that Kieron had so much dark body hair and the name "monkey boy" was chosen and stayed with him through the years. Callum was obsessed with Kieron's ability to wee upwards and asked if he had done the same as a tiny baby. Jade decided to show her experience and superiority in these matters by discussing nappies and wet wipes.

Kieron made our little family complete and taught us all the real meaning of love. Although he is not now physically with us, his legacy is irreplaceable.

Boot fairs

I have been doing a few boot fairs over the last few months. more to fill time at the weekends than anything else. Kieron came to a couple with me when he was little. My closest friend and I would set up the stall, with Kieron in his buggy, waiting for him to get bored and fractious. We would take it in turns to push him around to ease his boredom, with my daughter and my friend's daughter also helping.
Kieron would struggle to get out of his buggy and unfortunately he had the escapology powers of Houdini and always managed to wriggle free of the buggy straps and stand up back to front in the buggy. Bribes were introduced in the shape of a book or small toy to try to get half an hours peace. They didn't work. So back to the car, baby blanket over my shoulder and boob out hoping to get him to sleep with an extra feed.
As Kieron got older, sometimes we wandered round a boot fair, me to collect vintage china, Kieron to collect rubbish. Matchbox cars with missing tyres, Transformers with a missing limb, dinosaurs and jungle animals. As long as it looked unloved, Kieron wanted it. Deals would be done. I would buy the toy, if Kieron would water the garden or do a bit of dusting for me. Diplomacy ruled the day. Kieron always seemed to desire something that looked grubby, germ-laden or just plain junk. Trying to dissuade him without upsetting the stall holder was in itself an art form. Unfortunately this diplomacy didn't quite register with Kieron. If I picked up a 'got to have' piece of china, Kieron always commented along the lines of " not MORE old plates mum".
At today's boot fair, a woman I knew who had a daughter at the same time as I had Kieron came over. I hadn't seen her to speak to in a couple of years. "How's Kieron doing?" was her query. "He died" I said.

Naming Ceremony

I went with my daughter to my best friend's granddaughter's Naming Ceremony yesterday. This was one of those occasions that Kieron always tries to wriggle out of but the prospect of new clothes and loads of cake would sway him. Whenever I take Kieron to a 'function' he clings to me while he checks out the other kids there and becomes a little adult. He shakes hands with the men on being introduced and blushes at the comments from the women. He asks how they are while I beam with pride at his manners and maturity. Jade and Callum usually tease him good-naturedly if they come with us,but Kieron ends up chastising them for not behaving properly.
Kieron likes babies. He thinks they're funny and although Leah was born 2 months too late to meet Kieron, I know he would have been amused by her. Kieron likes making babies laugh, "she likes me doesn't she mum?" joining in with the laughter.
When it's just the two of us, Kieron stays at my side until he's introduced to one of the other boys and gradually decided that it's ok to do his own thing. Yesterday, a couple of lads were playing pool and I thought of other occasions when Kieron would watch and run to take the white ball from the pocket before it could trundle through the pool table. Putting it back into play is always a sure-fire way of breaking the ice and being asked to take part in a game.
The Naming Ceremony itself was hard to get through yesterday. Poems were read and one in particular told of tucking your child up at night with a kiss. Sideways glances at Jade to make sure she was ok while holding in my emotions.
Afterwards there was a buffet. Oh the delights of this type of food to a 10 year old. His favourite sandwiches of tuna mayo, sausage rolls, sticky sausages, chicken goujons (one of the last times he ate these was straight from the fridge, Kieron didn't realise they had to be cooked first but still said they were nice), gateaux, cheesecake, cupcakes. Kieron piles his plate high  with sandwiches and gateau on the same plate, taking a bite of each and not seeing anything wrong with it. Requests for Tango or Appletiser being met, leading to an evening of hyper activity. Slabs of cake to take home to top up the sugar levels before bedtime, generally ending in Kieron sleeping in my bed "because I can't get to sleep". Cuddling up to me and discussing his day and the new friends he's made and talking as if he's known them for years. This was the first function I've attended since last April... I think it's going to be the last too.