Notes

A year ago, he was a sleepy ball of scrunched-up flesh, but is now determinedly his own
person. I can see everyone in him – me, my wife, my parents – yet he’s already separate
from all of us. He’s giddy and silly. He’s a show-off, albeit one who’s irrationally terrified of
my dad. He loves running up to people and waiting for them to twang his lips like a ruler on
a table. When he gets tired and barks gibberish in the middle of the room, he throws his
entire body into it, like he’s trying to shove the noise up a hill.

With every tiny development – every new step he takes, every new tooth and sound and
reaction that comes along to ambush us – we’re confronted with a slightly different child.

Photos of him taken in the summer seem like dispatches from a million years ago. Photos of
him taken last week seem like a different boy. He’s blasting ahead as far as he can. He’s
leaving milestone after milestone in his wake and tiny parts of me along with them.


points: 1. "scrunched-up flesh" shows that he is messy and unorganised.
2. "giddy and silly" shows that he has a great personality.
3. "we’re confronted with a slightly different child." shows that he is ever changing.
4. "tiny parts of me along with them." shows that he is slowly not needing his father.

+word analysis.