Aside
This is the final appearance of son # 1 as a male model. He was a very active little boy and his default position was hanging outside his pram, cot, high chair suspended by his restrainers. He was walking at 10 months - like his mother. A word of comfort to mothers whose children are late walkers - I never showed the slightest athletic prowess, whereas Maddie, my sister sat on her bum for sixteen months and was ace at long-jump and outshone me in all sporting avctivities.
The apple of Mum and Dad's eye but soon he has to share the spot-light with another. Life's hard at that age.
Note the bulky terry towelling nappy. I used to boil them every day in a cast iron bucket. Then there were water-proof pants on top. it's a wonder they didn't end up bow-legged. Wouold I have the strength to resist today's disposables? I'd like to think so but maybe i'm kidding myself.
55 comments:
Oh yes, well I remember terry towelling nappies - the soaking and the boiling. Disposables were just coming in when my son was born but they were pretty useless: one wee and everything was soaked so I stuck it out.
As for walking, my daughter shuffled around on her bottom till she was fifteen months old while my son walked just before a year. They both hated sports though.
Love your mother and baby photos.
sablonneuse: I had forgotten I also used a thin muslin one to put next to his skin at vulnerable times like teething and I was a firm believer in letting the air get to the area, so lots of kicking nappy-less and lots of peeing at eye level:)
Cloth nappies are amazing nowadays - they aren't necessarily made of towelling any more and they are not nearly as bulky. And no pins.
With the Official Daughter, we thought we'd go with cloth diapers.
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-Ha!
It took us about a week to change to disposables.
The elder son walked at 10 months, ran at 10 months plus about 3 days and was climbing on the cabinets at 13 months.
We're still trying to catch up.
Good photos as always.
Cheers.
I love these photos!! What a lovely mom you are and your son has the cheeks u just want to snuggle lol.
I have to say I am thankful I didn' t boil any nappies...I used the disposable ones as my daughter is just 17 in 2 weeks.
Z: those sound brilliant. I must investigate. Not that I'm thinking of having any more just now.
Picture number two looks a little bit dangerous, as if he is about to be inadvertently garotted. I am pleased to see in the following pictures that that was not the case.
On another matter - if I wanted to have hair like you had in these pictures, what would I ask for?
What gorgeous photos! Absolutely LOVE them! You should be so proud.
Michele sent me here this morning. Hi from Wisconsin!
I have a pic of me in my mother's arms at about 5 or 6 months. My terry towelling nappy is bigger than me!
I only found out about all the boiling when my sister was born when I was 6. She wore a muslin liner, terry outer and then a really new product ... frilly waterproof pants! And I can recall the smell of the boiling even now!
Randall: the one sure thing is,I think - with regard to how one's off spring will turn out - is you can never be sure. I would be surprised however,if all your children were not sporty. I'm getting confused now:)
Moon: not to worry - MTL tells me boiling nappies leaves as big a carbon footprint as disposables.
Dandelion:if you are serious I would call it fifties casual. And the only safe way to reproduce it would be a photo of a similar style. My hair is naturally curly/wavy which may affect it.
Hi Karen! Kind of you to say so.
Belle: yes smells are so evocative. We all smelt differently in those days for obvious reasons:)
Yes, really gorgeous photos again, but I love the third one best, except for your son's cute toes in the first!
And I remember the distinctive smell of those rubbery water-proof pants really well...
d'ya know I can remember exactly how to fold the old towelling nappies for both boys and girls. I retained the information from when I used to look after my little brother and sister, thinking it'd come in use later in my life - and now they come pre folded! Bizaar I tell you :-)
Amy
p.s. I would kill for your waist, it is simply divine!
I used to boil my sons nappies in a bucket on the stove.
Helen
f:lux:Looking at them again makes me long to go back in time - just for a quick nuzzle:)
Amy: and an extra fold at the front for the boys:) Alas the waist has expanded somewhat.
Helen: there can't be many of us left:)
Eeeeeeeeeee Pat, they're gorgeous photos, what a glam pot you were. And how squeeeee was he! Lovely, just lovely.
I also remember those cloth diapers well and the diaper pail and the rubber pants. Nobody even thought of Pampers in the 60's!
What gorgeous photos of you....you remind me of Donna Reed. Very stunning.
Visiting here from Michele's.....
FMC: he's got a few grey hairs now:(
Gosh aren't you pretty in those photos!
And terry nappies, yes, I remember them well, still have nightmares about them in fact.
Hi Terri: I think I remember Donna Reed in 'From here to Eternity'. I think it is just the fifties look that's similar. I'd love to have her face, Especially now:)
Those old shots are great! I'll have to dig up some of mine someday. I remember the whole natural vs. disposable diaper discussion... and the verdict was different with my middle son (natural) and youngest (disposable). Now I hear talk of diaper-less babies...
glad I had only two choices.
Michele sent me,
Mike
Superb photos :)
When my son was born we'd talked about not using disposable. Our resolve didn't even last as far as the first nappy.
So should Girlpants and I try for rugrats, I will know where to turn for help in terry nappies.
Not that it's on the cards yet - think of the chaos as the gin market collapes...
Oh Pat...these are such darling adorable pictures of you and your dear first born...Precious, Precious, Precious....There is such a happy fulfilled feeling about these shots. Aren't you glad you have them? You and your boy are GORGEOUS in these pictures, too!
Fast fingers; it's what you had to do to them before you boiled them!
Mike: that's not good gfor the carpets and a potty bound baby gets problems elsewhere.
Kim: I'll bet you were a hands-on Dad.
sim: now you're getting me excited:)
Naomi: some years back I decided to put them in glass frames to protect them and they line the stairs up to the attic. Yes I am glad I still have them. When I think of all my comings and goings over the last fifty years it is miraculous that I still have them.
He is cute
Sadly I lost almost all the baby pictures of my son and daughter in my leaving and then divorcing the ex
he said he would send me copies of them all but that was 7 years ago
forgot to say Hi from michelle
Yes, pi, I am serious. I will print these out for the hairdresser then. I'll let you know how I get on.
Novy: that's so sad. I hope you will get them back one day. Maybe when the children are older they could help to bring it about. I do hope so.
Dandelion: what fun! I'm hoping for a photograph.
Hi Pat, I'm here via Michele!
What wonderful snaps and memories. He was a gorgeous boy!! ANd cloth nappies? They'rre saying now that they are just as bad for the environment as disposible. I don't know if I believe that though...
hi Melody! My husband - who is a scientist - agrees with that theory but he is not the greenest person I know:)
These are some excellent photographs - well capturing some lovely moments.
Here today via Michele's - Hiya!
rashbre
Hi Rashbre!
pretty as ever - child or mother? - take your pick.. xx
The are gorgeous photos. They al look so candid. Wonderful stuff.
michele sent me to say Hi.
Penelope: ta very much.
Hi Leigh!
Michele sent me to confess that I'm not a big fan of baby pictures - I think it has to do with being an only child and not having any of my own - but despite that, I think these are great shots - you can see joy in them.
Missmeliss: that's kind of you - I sympathise.
Oh what lovely pictures. I love to look at pictures of myself with my parents or my brothers. It brings back such good memories. And then to look at the pictures of myself and my girls. Of course, I was not nearly as beautiful as you! I'm here from Michele's but I visit often anyway. I hope you are having a wonderful day!
Wow - those pictures are so amazing...picture perfect!! (pun intended) It looks so idyllic and, well, like something out of a 50's tv show lol
I myself was born in 78 and my son was born in 1997 LOL So I can't even IMAGINE the hassle of cloth diapers *shudders at the thought* LOL Thank you so much for sharing!!
I'm here from Michele's tonight!
Hi Pat- Michele sent me to see your adorable baby pictures- You both do look very happy in them!
I can speak from bitter experience that it is difficult to refuse the disposable diapers- my first two kids- 17 & 11 now- were diapered with cloth & rubber panted (the velcro 'wraps' they sell now are ok until baby starts to be able to open them herself!) up until they were toilet trained.
My last child - we used disposable because we lived in a house without a washing machine & dryer- lugging smelly diapers to a laundromat was not something I was willing to do!
Thank you Moogie! Photographs are so very precious aren't they? During the recent floods the thing that upset most people was when they had lost their family photographs.
Thanks for stopping by again Pat....Girdon and his boat are kind of like nagnets...! I understand his love of the water very very well. I get the feeling that you do too!
I like that, Pat. When the floods come your photos will be safe in the ether, and even if that fails your memories will now also be a part of our memories.
Now I shall start putting up photos of the past too, if I ever get time that is.
Becky: I don't think one would be very popular taking nappies to a laundromat:)
Naomi: I am Pisces after all. Just wish I were a stronger swimmer.
Nea: my posts are copied to cd but I don't know if that includes photos? Glad if it inspires you to do the same.
hi its me again.. Just wanted to thank you for coming by the blog and to see if you had updated :)
Hi Novy! I'm just about to do so.
Beautiful pics, Pat! Believe it or not, I also used to boil my first son's nappies in a bucket on the stove. This was in a Greek village in 1984, I couldn't afford the disposable ones at the time.
M:that is a surprise. An experience not to be missed:)
Pat, I love the photos. Your son was cherubic and you were (and still are) beautiful!
Thanks Judy! Rose -tinted spectacles- i love 'em:)
My heart melts at these photos. Beautiful, as always.
I had all sorts of big ideas about using terry nappies. Funny what happens to big ideas sometimes... I was exhausted enough when all I had to do was tear disposables off and bin them. I would surely have been committed if I'd had to deal with cloth nappies too. My hat goes off to all these generations of women who coped so magnificently and with so little fuss in the pre-disposable years. You ladies rock.
Sam: he was a little heart melter.
sam: I can't feel too smug. We had no alternative.
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