I know this isn’t usually an Autumn subject, though Shelley once famously said that ‘If Winter Comes can Spring be far behind?’, but having now been accepted by my friend’s two year old son to the extent I have been cuddled and then had a mouthful of juice spat in my face (Oh how I pity his girlfriends), and watched my friends two month old daughter intensely looking at coloured plastic and returning my smile with her gummy grim, the ideas of birth are in my mind.
I cannot recapture my own youngest years mainly because most of the toys I had I broke in an effort to see what was inside them, or how they worked I am not sure which, but having two children to buy Christmas presents for is an eye opener. The shops are strewn with them of course, and the offers pop out at you as soon as you enter. Some of these toys are larger than the children and the whole idea of gender is very much in evidence. I wonder what would be wrong with a pink truck for a boy aged three or a rocket ship for a girl aged five?
It is interesting to me though that this age of wonder of which they are only vaguely aware themselves is, for me, a whole new age of wonder of which I am only too aware. The pre-fives are definitely the ages for adults:)