It’s still not about space

Good morning Cooper

Today is your first birthday: happy birthday!

As I’ve been doing for your sister, I’m planning to post each year about how you’re getting on; what you’re like; and any ‘big picture’ issues that are on my mind in relation to you. I’m hoping that when you’re older you’ll be able to look back at these posts and understand a bit more about how you grew up.

New v. 1

This was you a few days after you were born:

And this was you a few days ago:

Updates from the year?

The most significant update from the last year is that you were born! So everything is an ‘update’. The other major update happens tomorrow… when we move house!

There was a major difference between your first few months and Kirsten’s (other than there being no global pandemic…): I had three months off work with you, along with Mum and, for most of the week, Kirsten. With Kirsten, I had less than two weeks off work. That change was brilliant and meant that we got to spend a lot of quality time together.

There’s one other issue that I need to cover here. However, I am confident that, by the time you read this, it will be far behind us. That issue is what happened around the time of your arrival. The gist is that you were unwell when you were born and we were worried about you. I’ll level you with: as things stand, there’s still some residual concern about whether there will be adverse issues in the future. I am optimistic about the future (see below), and you needn’t worry, because we know the following to be irrefutably true:

As of today, you are a healthy boy. We have been to several appointments with specialists and all of them are happy with your progress. Primarily thanks to your mum, you are a big, strong, healthy lad (with a fine head of hair). All of that is good.
No matter what happens in the future, we will deal with it together.

As I say, I am optimistic. My levels of confidence about how you’re developing are very high. You need only look at how you’ve grown this year to see that you’re in good shape:

Who is Cooper Anderson?

We’re still getting to know each other because, while you can give us a good idea of what you want, you’re not yet speaking. But I like to think that we have a good idea of who you are:

You’re a very happy boy. You are constantly smiling, laughing, waving, rolling your ankles, etc.
You’re active. You are now fully crawling and using that new found mobility to explore.
You could eat for Scotland. You are in something like the top centile for both weight and length. So you’re massive, but proportionately so. Uncle Mark says “sleep is anabolic” and, because you’re a decent sleeper, you’re piling on muscle in your sleep!
You love balloons and cars. I can’t stress this enough. You have a red balloon (see above) that you can’t get enough of. You also enjoy a red bus and cars that Kirsten got for her birthday.
You are Kirsten’s biggest fan (and vice versa). Seeing how the two of you get on is just brilliant. You scream with laughter at anything she does. My prediction is that your relationship with Kirsten will be a very special one as you get older.

You get the gist: you’re a joy to be around. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. You’ll see from the photos below how much everyone enjoys spending time with you:

Interstellar

Almost exactly 10 years ago, I posted on this very site about a film called “Interstellar“. My observation then was that it wasn’t about space; it was about being a dad. I’m more certain than ever that’s right. Me and Mum recently managed to go to see the tenth anniversary release at the iMax (shout out to Gran and Pappie for babysitting). The film definitely hits harder once you have kids of your own.

You’re named Cooper after the lead character in Interstellar. I think that was my idea (Mum might correct me) because the film, and character, have stayed with me ever since I first saw it. I think it’s the optimism that Cooper has for his kids’ futures (he also has a son and a daughter), and the fact that he travels through and space and time to get back to them, that speaks to me on a molecular level.

I’m already looking forward to watching this with you:

It has a been a brilliant first year as a family of four. Here are some of my favourite photos of us (if Mum isn’t in the photo it’s because she took it):