When David was born, my whole life changed, here was this beautiful wee baby, he was a treasure, I just loved looking into his eyes. Whenever I sang to him he would cry and grab my mouth I think he was trying to tell me to shut up and I couldn’t blame him as my singing was pretty chronic but as he was small I made him listen and told him he had no choice! I brought David up with lots of cuddles, games and rules , he was such a loving caring, serious yet fun filled soul.
David didn’t sleep during the day but did sleep all night from six weeks old. When his aunty Susie came for a visit from America we got him christened and he was a lucky boy as he had not 1 but 2 godmothers his aunty Shelly and aunty Susie, David held a special place in all our hearts as at that point he was the last of all the grandchildren and he was just so cute.
I remember when David was only one and I had fitted child proof locks on the cupboards, well Aunty Shelly couldn’t get the sweetie door opened, I turned round and said to David go open the door for Aunty Shelly and off he toddles and opened the supposedly childproofed door I was rolling with laughter but I really think they need to design something a lot harder for children to master, though I don’t know what Aunty Shelly would do if they did!!!
When David was young I used the 1,2,3 technique to correct his behaviour, when he was only 2 and a half years old he had been naughty, I started counting, when suddenly he stamps his little foot and yells at me IT’S NOT FAIR! WHY CAN’T YOU COUNT TO 5 AND GIVE ME MORE TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT! Well I nearly fell about laughing he was so, so clever so much so it was hard to discipline him at times as he was so funny with it, until of course he hit the teenage years!
Then I had to use his favourite things and hold them to ransom.
David’s Nanna and Papa helped me to look after David for six years to enable me to work full time, he loved it there and had lots of sweets bought in for him, he used to stick to the number we told him he was allowed but as he got older he started to sneak more and more but he was so smart he hid all of the evidence behind a bed, you wouldn’t believe how much he had eaten his way through!
He would have dinner with us, then run round to his best friend Charlie and have dinner there or vice versa, he was like a bottomless pit, I waited on the day Kirsty and Tom, David’s second parents, would phone social services to report us for starving David, as he never put any weight on no matter what he ate!
I also took David on lots of caravan holidays with his Aunty Shelly and the girls, he so loved his girls but with staying in Scotland, we used to sunbathe in the rain!
When David was only 3 and a half I took him to Port Douglas in South Queensland, Australia, where we stayed for four weeks with his Aunty Susie and had the time of our lives, he just loved it, all the different animals and birds. I believe this is were he developed his love of streaking, as he refused to wear clothes once he met the little boy next door who also streaked everywhere, unless we were going out, for the entire holiday!
I also took David to Los Angeles to see his aunty Susie when he was 5, we were right on the beach front and played there nearly everyday, we took him to Disneyland and Sea world, he just loved it except when a seagull stole his cookie, he didn‘t know whether to laugh or cry until we told him it would be replaced for free, then he laughed of course! He even experienced 3d cinema there, where we alll got soaked in our seats David just loved it!
David also loved visiting Uncle Nick and all his cousins, his cousin Nicholas recalls the time we were visiting and David was playing up so he took him outside to play in the garden to give me a wee break, what I didn’t know was he swung David in circles till he was ready to say sorry and behave, it actually worked a treat as David loved and looked up to his big cousin who would play all his favourite card games.
Tammy and Kevin recall when they spent time with David he was about 13 years old and again he wouldn’t be quiet so Tammy said “lets play a game of silence the winner gets a fiver” David replies “ohhhh Tammy my silence is worth so much more than that!” In the end it was £5 per train stop resulting in the silence costing them twenty pounds!
Aunty Donna recalls when Malcolm joined our lives and took us to visit, Aunty Donna was in the kitchen with David, when she asked how he was, he looked up to her over his wee round glasses with solemn eyes and said “I’m not the man of the house anymore Aunty Donna” Aunty Donna had a tear in her eye and said “ awwww hunni that might be true but you’ll always be your mummy’s special little man” at which he smiled and went “ahh ok “ then went back to play.
Now I was asked not to tell this one, I’m sorry but I just have too tell it!
One Halloween David was dressing up as Count Dracula, well my white make-up ?wasn’t very good so Aunty Erika watched David while I went to the shop to get the kids face paints, on my return I came in the door to hear David saying oooo its stinging Aunty Erika, “what’s stinging David” I asked coming down the hall, I walked into the bathroom and there was David face all pure white, Aunty Erika had had the brainwave to use ehhhh white emulsion, his wee face was beetroot by time we got it all off so he ended up a pink Dracula!
From the age of three I encouraged David to think about university, I can only suggest to all his university friends and all his friends attending college the same thing I told David. Think of the end goal and keep on top of the work and you will succeed in your aims. I wish you every joy and triumph in whatever you choose to do with your lives. Live and be happy, have lots of fun but always be aware and look after yourselves! One time I took David by train to Coventry, on the way home 4hours and 45 minutes into the 5 hr journey an older lady, sitting across the aisle from us, turned to me and said “awwww hen does he never shut up?” I just shook my head and said no, no, he doesn’t, as David had talked non stop for the whole time!
