Public private partnerships

One of the things, punkin, about having a baby, is that it's a very public process. When you're thinking about, ferinstance, buying a car, the only people who know about it are the people that you choose to tell. Your desire for the perfect home theatre system, pumpling, isn't thought of by other people as something that they're permitted or encouraged to comment on, to offer suggestions. This is absolutely not the case when you're pregnant, particularly when, as in the case of your mother with 26 days to go until your due date, you're very obviously pregnant

This leads to all kinds, sweet potato, of interesting conversations. They can run the entire gamut from bizarre, to completely useless, and from incredibly emotional to invaluable. Your mother getting told that she looks like an Easter egg (compliments of the season indeed) sits at one end of this list, and the advice that Amanda gave me yesterday sits at the other.

I've told you before, at length, about freecycle. I'm not going to shut up about it anytime soon. It's been a way for us to participate in the endless cycle of passing on and passing down that forms the part of any young child's life, (I suppose some children don't have hand-me-downs, pumking, but they're certainly not any children we know) but with the added bonus of having an incredibly broad section of people with whom to make these trades.

So when, punkin, your mum and I turned up at an unassuming door in Bayswater last night, and Amanda took the time out of her day to specifically give us something rather than take money for it, and then proceeded to dig your dad in the ribs and show him exactly where and how to massage your mum when she's having you, well it just about made our whole week.

There are people out there who are taking a big part in your life, punkin, and they're people who you might not ever get a chance to get to know. It's important to me that I tell you about them, because forgetting them or not taking the chance to thank them for what they've done would be just about unforgivable. They're people who give us 20 seconds of their time, and they're people who read this site and send you a friendly wish or two. They're people who, over many many years, have generously spent their time making sure that your mum and dad are the people that they are, and that we're going to be the best parents that we possibly can.

Tiny gestures, pumpkin, can have big impacts.

Love you.