AUTHOR'S CORNER;

BLOCKED FOR BABY BOY

My son came into the my study as I sat glaring at my blank screen, I had not even lifted a single finger upon the keyboard and my eyes were filling up with tears.  'I'm almost done,' said he to me as he kissed my head.  'Oh, come on,' he protested, 'you're too soppy!

Surely you're not going to make a song and dance about it all?  I'm a grown man mum, you've got to let me be.'  He put his hand on his hip in irritation.  'I'm twenty now, a grown up, you should be happy that I'm off from under your feet! And I can't see why it is you are so upset, i'm only off back to uni, and besides, you've had me here all summer!'

'So upset?' I answered bemused, 'is it wrong to miss my baby? I asked.

'I'm not your baby,' he snapped, 'I'm a man!'

'Not my baby?' I asked.  'If you're not my baby, how come I remember you so well?      

Like the day I brought you home from hospital, all wrapped in your little baby shawl; hands in mittens and head in hat, as you hiccuped in your first breath of the November cold wind.  I was so worried I would break you, I wouldn't change your nappy; thought I would snap your tiny legs off if I tried.  then your dad stepped in and showed me how.  Or the very first time I made you laugh; I played peek-a-boo with you for two hours straight, before you giggled!  Tried to get you to laugh for your dad in the evening,

you laughed your little heart out and we all fell about in hysterics!  And when your grandparents came round we showed them and they were so happy and proud.

Or that time you sat up unaided; I was so proud I must have taken a hundred pictures of you that day, got them developed and didn't have enough money to buy the groceries for the rest of the week!'

'Huh,' said son, 'sentimental baby stories; so I was a cute baby, what of it?'

'What of it?' I asked.  'You were much more than a cute baby boy; you were my baby, mine, my little boy!'  I said.  

'Oh mum,' he scolded.  'Look now woman, stop it!'

'But I was there when you took your first steps, I was there when you went to play school and you cried and cried because I had to leave you.  I cried all the way home and felt ever so guilty!  

I was there to hold your hand when you were frightened, kiss your head when you were sad, give you a hug when you were lonely!'

'Yawn, yawn,' mocked son, 'sentimental and emotional blackmail!'

'But it was me who took you to your first football practice, I waited in the car in the freezing cold!

'Yawn, yawn, mother!' said son. 'You're doing my head in!'

'It was me who took you for your first music lesson,' I said.  'I saw you through your very first crush!  Her name was ....' 

'Oh now stop it mum!!' he said.

'It was me who sorted out your broken heart, me who nursed you through colds and flu, me who helped you when you were unhappy, gave you good advise when you were unsure!  It was me who crept into your room when you were asleep to make sure you were okay, and it was me who held my breath when you sat your exams.'

'Oh mum, really?' he protested.

'It was me who saw you through your first true love, oh I was so touched by it all!' 

'Too far mother!'

'And you have the nerve to argue that you are my baby?' I asked.

'I'm only off to uni,' said he.  

'I know, and I'm so proud of you, you've made it this far, your second year already, look at you!'

'So why the drama?' he asked.

'No drama,' I said, 'just baby blues!'

'So I'll be off then,' he said.  'Will you be okay?'

'Of course I will,' I said.

'Well then smile woman!' he joked.

'I will,' I sniffed.

'Oh come on mummy,smile for your baby...'

'Come here baby!' I said.