Birthday Boy and a Special T Shirt

It was Baby Boy's first birthday last week.

I honestly cannot believe that my baby is one. He is developing such little personality and has the most beautiful smile that lights up his face and melts my heart every time. That dimple. And don't get me started on his eyes. And his leg, arm and wrist rolls that make me just want to bury my face in them.

He still isn't really properly crawling, still, he manages to manoeuvre himself around via a combination of wriggling, rolling, moving backwards and turning in circles. He's kind of like a Weeping Angel. If you watch him he doesn't appear to move, but turn away for 5 minutes and when you look back he'll be at the other end of the room, wedged under a piece of furniture.

I know it's not fair to compare him to his brother, but it's inevitable. Small Boy was always good, but somehow Baby Boy is easier. He is so content. As long as he has some company, he'll sit and play by himself. He's a brilliant and extensive napper (let's gloss over the nighttime sleeping, however). And he will happily go to anyone for cuddles, although you can guarantee he'll try to stick his finger up their nose. On our holiday last week he met, for the first time, after a 5 hour car journey: my Uncle and Aunt, my cousin, her husband and 2 teenage children, and he didn't bat an eyelid.

He even likes getting his photo taken, and smiles for the camera! Small Boy detests being in front of the camera. This is a revelation!

The thing that pisses him off the most, as can see from the photo below, is when you don't give him food RIGHT NOW!!!

It's also lovely to see the relationship between the two boys. Baby Boy is getting to be a bit more "interactive" now, and will laugh at Small Boy's craziness, much to his great delight. They have their moments (and I know that'll get much much worse before it gets better) but they really are pals.

We were literally going "poos, bums, wee" to make Small Boy smile here! The things you do!

Which brings me on to the point of this post. I won't lie, I blatantly stole this idea for this from Girl Like the Sea, but it is such a lovely idea, and a great momento. Small Boy designed and decorated a tshirt for his brother's birthday. And, as you can see, one for himself too.

I loved the idea when I saw it on Tara's blog and so when I was considering what to give Baby Boy for his birthday (because he needs precisely nothing), I thought this would be a nice way to get Small Boy involved. He has really been showing a considerable interest in drawing and colouring recently, and in letter formation, so the timing couldn't have been better.

In another life I would have made the tshirts, but time got away from me, so I ended up buying 2 cheap white tees from Mothercare. Do you know how difficult it is to buy white tshirts for babies? They didn't need to be white, but they did need to be light coloured, and I didn't see any pale solid coloured tees either.

I ordered these pens from Amazon, and they were perfect, with a good range of colours. I got Small Boy to do a couple of practice runs on the "design" first. Sometimes his drawings tend to look a bit, ahem, unintentionally inappropriate. He was dead set on putting Nessie on there because he'd been learning about her at nursery, but I managed to persuade him that the drawing of the 2 boys, plus a rainbow, and a sun was enough. Which is why he has Nessie on his t-shirt. We held off from writing Happy Birthday, as I wanted it to be a tshirt he can wear again.

Small Boy on the left (in orange), Baby Boy on the right (in red). It makes me so happy.

The actual drawing was tricky as the fabric had a tendency to pull as he put pressure on the pens. I ended up having to hold sections taut as he drew, so it's a bit scrappier than it might be otherwise, but it all adds to the charm, I think. On a more stable fabric, like cotton, I think this would be less of an issue.

Nessie, in Loch Ness. I spelt the word out and he wrote it. He had some help with the "S"'s, as he struggles with the formation of them.

In terms of making it permanent, a quick press was all it took. You also have the option of leaving it for 24 hours. I did both, just to make sure. I've only washed it once so far, but the colours held up really well.

On the back. "A monster".

I can't say that Baby Boy was delighted with the tee, because, well he's one and has little appreciation for anything he can't eat, but he looks very cute in it, and Small Boy was chuffed to bits with the achievement. Unfortunately the weather wasn't too warm on Skye, and the tshirts are paper thin, so both are wearing long sleeved tees underneath, but they still look pretty cool!

He may be good at a lot of things, but he's rubbish at selling the product!

Since I've clearly not put enough photos in this post, I'll leave you with this. I've taken a photo of Baby Boy every month since his birthday, and pulled them together into this collage. It's so much easier with a decent camera phone and instant access to social media, neither of which I had 5 years ago, but I really wish I'd thought to do the same for Small Boy.