Thursday 17th of June 1999
Tragedy struck last week. My computer got very sick (the master hard disk went all funny). The slave disk was fine (where all my data was, including this), so we took it to the shop. The shop was a joke. After waiting for a week, the three of us were there practically every day trying to find out what the hell was going on, I finally brought it home. But the idiots managed to screw up drive D, and I lost a couple of days of writing I had done and hadn’t had any time to back up. At least I didn’t have to pay anything, and I got a new drive C and D. Drive C was in warranty, and drive D came as an apology for them having ruined my old one. We now have a spare drive in the house that should work if reformatted, but I’m still hoping I can recover the data that’s in it. Your dad’s latest web site was there, and it was so good, and it is now lost!
I couldn’t e-mail anybody for a week and that nearly drove me nuts too, but at least I spent more time with you! My cousin (Maira, the one who is like my sister), has finally managed to e-mail me so now we can talk to each other. She has 3 kids, Gabriel (born in 85, I think), Júlia (born in 89) and Alice (born in 95). The reason why I’ve tried to teach you Portuguese is so that you can communicate with my family. I miss them soooooo much it hurts. I’m going to try and go there as often as possible while you’re growing up, so you can understand where I’ve come from.
Last Sunday we went to Hampstead Heath with your grandma Cesca. It was lovely and warm and we stayed there for about 5 hours. You loved it! We were pushing the pram in rough terrain, pebbles everywhere, and you just fell asleep. We sat by the acoustic thingy and fed you. There were children and families everywhere.
Oh, yes, the bit where I described my shaving your head was also lost. 2 Saturdays ago, 1 week before your 6th month birthday, I was trying to trim your hair (your dad was working). Your head was wobbling was usual and it just looked a mess when I was done; holes everywhere. So I had the bright idea to shave your little head. I took you to the bathroom, sat you in your blue bath chair, and very carefully started at the back. You were fine for ½ an hour, which only gave me time to do half your head. You started crying like mad and I had to take you out, with only half head shaven. You looked pathetic, like a mini-criminal. I phoned your dad at work to let him know of my terrible crime, as I was feeling awful about the estate of your hair. When he got home later that day he saw how upset I was and tried to cheer me up, which was very nice of him.
The next day I put lots of oil in your head and just finished it dry, while you were breast feeding or distracted doing something else. After a couple of hours you were totally bold! Like Kojak, minus the lolly. Like Buddha. Like a little old bold man… R. didn’t like it. I didn’t either but you seemed happy enough in your ignorance about your lack of hair. So, since then, you’ve been wearing a hat most of the time, as I’m scared you’ll get a cold and you look better with a hat on. It’s been nearly two weeks now since I shaved it, and the hair is growing like there’s no tomorrow. I’m impressed with your ability to grow your hair without even thinking about it, and it’s all nice and uniform.
No sign of your teeth yet, though, where are they? You can sit up properly now for a few minutes and then you just sort of fall over. If we leave you on the floor, you roll you way around the bedroom. You get on your hands and knees and push yourself backwards (quite funny). And you scream louder every day. What strong lungs you have! Also when you’re eating and getting full, you start throwing your food on my face (which annoys me, but I can’t help but laugh). My glasses get full of food`and I can’t see properly. You’ve got a strong punch too, I’ve felt it. And you kick pretty hard too. Nobody warned me that being a parent involved being beaten up by your baby on a daily basis.
I was feeling a bit down today (I had a stupid argument with your dad last night) and after I signed on (you were with me) I bought myself some summer tops, bought you a baseball cap, some nappies and Tangy Lemon Tartlets (Mr. Kippling) as I love them to bits. Everywhere I went people looked at you and said how absolutely cute you are. And you are! You are one of those babies that people look at and say “Oh, isn’t he just so cute?” So I’m not the only one who thinks you’re adorable (well, I would anyway, being your mum), the whole world thinks so too.
At the weekend we moved the furniture around the room to make more space for you to play and for us to move. You now have your own chest of drawers, with all your clothes organised properly. They were in boxes before… Must go now, you’re awake.