Welcome to the Stage

At 12:08 PM on the 28^th December 2010, Dominic Emmanuel entered our lives and within days of his arrival the enquiries as to “How we are coping with parenthood?” were lobbed in our direction. Marina puts it better than I ever could – Having a baby is like dealing with a woman with PMS. You don’t know the reason for the crying, crankiness and general moodiness; you certainly have no clue how to make it stop, and just when you think all hope is lost, the whinging dies down leaving you with no idea what happened, but secretly thanking God for small mercies.

While Dominic is not as temperamental as a premenstrual woman, he does, like Superman, have lungs of steel and faster than a speeding bullet obliterates silence (not to mention perfectly clean nappies) at inhuman speed. This is not say he is always crying, but let’s say if we knew he was going be able to direct ships into shore with his voice we would have called him “Foghorn.”

The reason we called him Dominic though was because not only is he named after the revered boy saint, but his name means “Belonging to God.” His second name, Emmanuel, was chosen after my grandfather. He was a man that Marina and I both loved and respected very much because he was caring, loving and unselfish.

He was also a mild tempered and calm man, a quality that Dominic shares, especially when he is asleep. However it is when he gets up that, and I know he is barely three weeks old, that we realised how fitting his name is.

During his waking moments, it is quite obvious that the first letter of Dominic’s name relates to how ‘Determined’ he is. Or put another way, he is stubborn. This trait is reinforced by the second letter ‘O’. To say he is ‘Obstinate’ is an understatement. Well, let me put it this way, you would have a better chance of getting a mule into a mini skirt than getting Dominic to feed when he does not want to. Once his lips lock down neither hell, high water, a hose or German opera sung by boys whose voices are cracking can pry them open. This is an attribute he “got from the father” apparently.

The ‘M’ is easy. He may not be showing any signs of ‘Mischievousness’, but you have to remember that he is a boy, so watch this space. What about the ‘I’? Well that’s easy – ‘Indolent’. In short this means he is a lazy bugger. The little guy sleeps so much anyone would think he was a teenager. No guessing for what ‘N’ stands for – ‘Naughty’, and if my mother’s stories are anything to go by – “Darren never failed to sprinkle sand into our neighbour’s mouth while he slept!” – he will be as impish as a leprechaun on Irish whisky.

The second ‘I’, pertains to what Marina and I call Dominic’s breezy ‘Indifference.’ By this I don’t mean Dominic doesn’t seem to care, he is just extremely laid back. Nothing bothers him, whether its injections, loud music or even my singing, which is grating enough to cause the migration of numerous small mammals. Dominic is unfazed by all this and with little more than a whimper, turns over, fills is nappy with love and drifts back to sleep.

The Final ‘C’ is for ‘Cheeky’. A trait, if that comment at the start at blog is anything to go by, he gets from his mother, and one that he will utilise in due course. Well the fact that he uses the opportune moments to go to the toilet (i.e. after his parents have bathed him) should be enough proof we are in charge of ticking time bomb of rascally terror.

I am sure these seven adjectives are just the tip of iceberg, and in due course, his personality will shine through and I know that is something Marina and I are looking forward to (well that and all the cool toys I get to play with). Until then, there is little left to do, but let him feed, sleep and deal with the numerous poo explosions that comes our way.

Advertisement