guppy_sandhu | Guppy's 30th Birthday Party

Having collected everyone from the bar, Guppy leads them back through to the house, where they enter through the kitchen.

The living room furniture has been mostly moved out of the way, and that's where the most of the party has been set up. The sofa and some chairs are around the edge of the room, and there's music playing. The kitchen is a bit small so the food is being taken through into the dining room. Also a little on the small side, but enough for purpose. All of the baby gates are open on the ground floor, but not on the stairs.

Upstairs, the spare bedroom has been set aside for any little people at the party. It's a bit quieter, with baby-sized food, some toys, and a DVD of Pingu playing.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

theflyingsquirl

Squirrel takes what he is offered, using the cushion to prop Evan up and scooping up a small spoonful of ice cream and banana for him.

Evan manages to grab hold of her finger, and as any kid would, attempts to bring it to his mouth. Which is apparently the most fun thing in the world, from the way he giggles.

"Probably for the best," Squirrel says. "We're still working on the no-biting lesson."

From:

guppy_sandhu

"Oops, I'd better let you get that banana then." Frogspawn says to Evan with a grin.

Then she looks around. "Alex, no! Dirty!" She attempts to scrape the banana out of the carpet.

From:

theflyingsquirl

"Here you go, Ev, some banana. And ice cream! Much better than biting people."

He does seem to enjoy the ice cream, even if not all of it stays in. It's almost as much fun to wear as it is to eat.

"You never realize how long a few seconds can be until you see what a kid or a pet can get into in just a few seconds, huh."

From:

guppy_sandhu

"Yeah, the other day Guppy left him while he went to the toilet, and when he got back Alex had ripped a square foot of wallpaper off."

Small shrug. "But at the same time, they gotta learn to explore, you can't expect them to know all the rules. We do our best to keep him safe, the rest we have to tackle as it comes."

From:

theflyingsquirl

"...wow, yeah. That's... not something I would even think about having to worry about. And we spent a long time squirrelproofing and babyproofing and baby-squirrelproofing our room at the bar. It's gonna be rough in the spring..."

He scoops some of the escaped ice cream up off Ev's chin and gives it another go.

"I think that there's an expectation that parents should put their kids in bubbles and never let them get hurt or sick or anything. I'm not saying they should be deliberately exposed to things, but... you know, they've got to be kids. Build up immunities, learn what not to do next time."

From:

guppy_sandhu

"Oh I agree, I don't want Alex to be too sheltered. It's so easy to smother him, especially remembering how tiny he was when he was born." She mimes about the size of a large banana.

"I think him not being particularly cuddly helps though. He likes to do things on his own."

She can't help but notice that Evan is looking a bit rotund. Not realising he's going to be hibernating, she hopes he's getting enough exercise.

From:

theflyingsquirl

"I think I remember Guppy talking about that," he says, glancing to Alex. "He sure seems to be doing great now, though--lots of energy, pretty independent, at least he seems that way to me."

He helps himself to a bite of the ice cream, but from the bowl, not Ev's chin.

"Ev isn't really, not yet. He may be sorta independent from me and Coreen, sometimes, but that's only when he's got his squirrels around. A baby with minions. He has them bring him snacks, since he can't get around much yet himself."

From:

guppy_sandhu

Frogspawn nods.

"We think Alex is on the Autistic Spectrum, though we don't know yet to what extent. Physically and intellectually he's doing very well, we just have to help him with a couple of behavioural difficulties."

She laughs. "He has minions? Most babies aren't very independant at this age. Alex is prone to not asking for help when he needs it at times - he doesn't demand a lot of attention but sometimes he needs it more than he says."

"Teeper car sore ants." Alex declares, grabbing some more banana to shove into his mouth.

From:

theflyingsquirl

"It helps to know early, they say. You know what you're in for, you can talk to other people who have been in the same boat. Makes things easier for everyone."

More ice cream for Ev. A little more relaxed now, he manages to eat the entire spoonful.

"Ev's got..." He taps his forehead. "A bond with the squirrels in our family, same as I do. He's not talking much with words yet, but he doesn't need to--they can understand him, and so can I. But Coreen can't, which is a little frustrating."

From:

guppy_sandhu

"Absolutely. We were lucky to pick up on his hatred of being touched; that's highly unusual in a child his age. He won't be able to get officially diagnosed for a while yet, but we have a working diagnosis of how to help him."

She smiles at Evan. "A psychic bond? Wow, that's amazing. Sorta like being bilingual. Must be hard on Coreen though."

From:

theflyingsquirl

"Yeah, I can imagine that would be strange--I don't have a lot of experience with babies, but I know Ev loves being held, petted, and especially scritched behind the ears. Do you think that both of you being in the medical field has helped? You know, let you know what to look for?"

Sometimes he worries that Ev may have some quirks they haven't discovered yet, but mostly he dismisses it with the thought that he is a mutant.

"Our squirrels have a couple ways of communicating. There's the bond, which he can do, and then there's normal squirrel-talk, the chittering and body language. He can do the chittering just fine, but he's a little bowl of jello, he can't move himself around enough yet to do the body language part. It's like trying to talk without having a tongue, it doesn't quite work. In the spring, though, I'm sure."

From:

guppy_sandhu

"Yeah, I think Guppy got it before I did though. Coreen and Remy spotted him too."

She gently scritches Evan behind the ears.

"Fully human babies are born with the ability to pronounce all the sounds we use in languages around the world, but they lose the ones they don't use in the first few months. Like Japanese babies can say both 'r' and 'l' but they lose one of them when they get older."

From:

theflyingsquirl

Evan squirms a little, blissfully, one of his legs doing that twitching thing that dogs sometimes do when getting a really good scratch.

"I wonder if it works the same way with, like, those languages that depend on tone," Squirrel muses. "Do all kids have good pitch but lose it when they get older?"

From:

guppy_sandhu

Frogspawn beams delightedly at the Evansquirming.

"Oh that is just adorable!" She carries on doing it.

"Not sure about tone. Hard to tell with Alex sometimes."

From:

theflyingsquirl

And Ev is as happy as a round little mutant baby can be. It's the simple things in life, really.

"I think I saw a thing about tonal languages on TV once," Squirrel says. "I don't think I'd have much of a problem with it, but... language is a really funny thing, you know?"

From:

guppy_sandhu

"It is. Guppy tries to teach him a little Punjabi from time to time, but he's not saying any yet."

From:

theflyingsquirl

"Well, he's got a lot of time yet," he says. "Just expose 'em to it and eventually they pick it up. That's what I've heard, anyway. I... am clearly not an expert on kids."

From:

guppy_sandhu

"You're an expert on Evan, that's what counts."

From:

theflyingsquirl

"One of only two in the universe," he says with a grin. "Kinda scary though, being a parent. I wasn't prepared for that at all."

From:

guppy_sandhu

"Well, it was a bit of a shock for us with Alex too." Frogspawn admits. "We both went from single to parenthood in less than a year."

From:

theflyingsquirl

"Some of the best parents, I think," he says, "and I'm not being vain and including myself in that, but some of the best seem to be the ones it just kinda... happened, to. Maybe it's because they don't go into it with years of dreams of 'this is how it's gonna be' that don't account for what their actual kid will be like."