MY WILD CHILD

Patrick is three next month, which still seems pretty unreal to him, didn't I just give birth to him a few months ago? We're at the stage now when I can look at older pictures of him and really see the difference, he's lost all of that baby chub and he's taller, thinner and has a mouth that never seems to close. But there is one thing about my little sweet Pip that hasn't changed from day one, actually who am I kidding, he caused havoc before he was born as you'll know if you've been around long enough. He is our wild card, the baby that I truly didn't see myself being a parent of, after having Noah we really thought the fact we had such a sweet and calm child must be a reflection on our fantastic parenting (I'm rolling my eyes at former me too). Turns out it's absolute pot luck and if Pip had of been our first child, he'd have probably been our only child because he is crazy. Would we have him any other way? Absolutely not.

This little one has definitely aged us, faster in the three years he's been around than Noah probably will in his entire life. It always baffles me how different they are in temperament, whilst Pip looks like a miniature John, he's most definitely more like me in terms of personality and he's a very classic Gemini. He's only two yet he'll quite happily spit out some of the best sweet talking I've heard, 'Please can I have a biscuit Mummy, I'm your best friend, I love you so much', pretty fly don't you think? It might still work on my Nan but we're much more wise to his tricks and antics these days.

He's not the type of boy you can leave alone for longer than a couple of minutes, trips to the toilet usually mean the door needs to be kept open and he'll come and chat your ear off for most of the time. Just last week whilst I folded washing, he managed to stifle a pen that had fallen under the table and decide to give me my very own masterpiece on the lovely white living room wall. Thanks for that son, 'I've painted it for you Mummy' with a grin that was not remaining on his face when he realised it was probably a step too far. But as wild childs always are, he's so lovable and you truly can't stay mad at him for longer than a moment.

Spirited is the word my Mum chooses to use, I'm not sure if I'd have been given the same name if I'd reenacted van gough on her wall aged 2, but that's Grandparents for you and he can do little wrong in their eyes of course. Patrick has always been full of personality though and sometimes I think his sole purpose on this earth is to test our limits and boy does he do a fantastic job of doing exactly that. He drives me crazy, he tests every single boundary and I'm pretty sure he loves nothing more than to see how far he can push his luck. He'll flip like a coin and go from whiny and dramatic, to caring and affection, I used to think he just mood swinged like a good 'un, but now I realise he knows just what he's doing and will try every option to get what he wants.

He is our wild child, he bumped us back down to reality with parenting and in absolutely no way shape or form, did Noah prepare us for Patrick. I think it goes to show that it doesn't really matter if you're on child number one, or number five, it's really a lucky dip of genes isn't it? I don't want to do my boy a disservice, he's enchanting and I could rave about him all day long, make it look like we were dab hands at raising a second child, but that's not really what this blog is about is it? I want to be honest, Patrick is wild, he's our wild child and whilst he drives us around the bend, I'd not change him for a second.