The Boy Wonder seemed pretty much back to his usual self today, which was a) lovely to see, and b) a relief. As well as playing multiple rounds of hide ‘n’ seek around the house we spent a couple of hours in the playground at the park, where B made good use of the equipment. In the past month his physical confidence and strength have both increased quite noticeably, and last week’s awful bug doesn’t appear to have set him back in this regard.
I’m not sure what made him suddenly notice this speaking device – he’s never taken any interest in it before while I’ve been with him – but he was very intrigued by it today. “Whatizzit?” he asked me. “Well,” I said, “It’s a kind of primitive telephone.” He looked at me as though I was suddenly speaking a foreign language – which I suppose I was, given that I doubt anyone around him ever uses either of those words. Luckily, because R and I were both with him we were able to demonstrate, one of us calling into and listening at this speaker, while the other used its companion, which is maybe ten metres away. The Boy ran from one to the other, shouting “Hello!” to the distant grandparent, and listening intently for the response. I probably don’t need to say that we tired of this well before he did.
Right at the end of a happy afternoon the Boy suddenly crashed, descending in an instant into inconsolable grief over I still don’t know what, and refusing for several minutes to be comforted. When he finally agreed to a conversation, R suggested to him that perhaps he still wasn’t completely well, and told him that the virus had made me very sad too. B then lunged at me, and for a split second I thought I was about to be head-butted – but it turned out that I was getting a cursory hug, and a brisk kiss on the cheek. After which he cheered up as promptly as he’d cheered down, and went back to chatting breezily about conkers and such, as though there’d never been a problem. Half way home though, R looked down at the lolling blonde head in the pushchair in front of him and said “Is he asleep?” And he was – out like a light, with a half-eaten strawberry YoYo clutched in one fist. The failure to finish a YoYo was an even stronger indicator than the unexpected nap that perhaps he’s not fully back on song as yet.
