068 - Chapter 68

(Illustrations: One of Leah's very first drawings at a museum. I can't display her present work as it is her GCSE exam year.)

We had just taken mam back to the Lakes for another holiday with us when after a few days, we got the call that Sarah’s baby, was on the way! 

We took mam home, and left Wallsend at 7 p.m. and arrived at midnight at Marlow, as we were staying there for a while with Alan’s parents. We followed a really bright star all of the way, like wise men seeking Jesus!

What a restless night we all had. we didn’t get to bed until 2.30 a.m. and Leah Emily Hodson was born at 5.00 a.m. weighing 8lbs 14 oz! (How was this possible when Sarah was so petite?)

All was well, but after a few weeks it was discovered that Leah had dislocated 'clicky' hips and so she had to wear a hip brace for quite a while to correct them, this was something which was diagnosed in my own children, strangely enough. It’s a wonder Sarah’s hips weren’t dislocated too! 

Incidentally, Bob’s dad’s weight at birth was 14 lbs, way back at a time when midwives seemed to leave babies to emerge when they were ready; so it’s a good job that medical practice has progressed in leaps and bounds since then!

Leah brought with her an abundance of smiles, in fact I would go as far to say, she's been the happiest child I’ve ever known, so loving and outgoing. Once she’d been released from that hip harness, she must have felt set free, so no wonder she was as happy as a lark!

Whenever we visited Sarah and Alan’s home, following the birth, we would spend a week there, as opposed to having single day visits with our grandchildren nearer home, so in going there it was always ‘quantity’ time, as well as ‘quality’ time, and so we got to know Leah really well.

As Leah grew, she would chuckle with delight when she saw us arrive, even when we hadn’t seen her for a couple of months, and she would cry when it was time for us to leave her and come home.

Leah was also very observant and missed nothing, and was very bright. I actually wrote down and counted all the words she could say at fifteen months, and it came to 200.

I once tried to impress her with a tongue twister, saying,: “IF . . Peter Piper picked a piece of pickled pepper, WHERE IS . . .the piece of pickled pepper, Peter Piper picked?”.

Quick as a flash she replied, “In the pickled pepper shop!”

I wonder if Leah still remembers a photograph book that I made for her entitled ‘That’s Not My Mammy; that’s my . . . (I inserted:- my Grandma . . my Aunty Dionne . . My cousin Katie . . .My Aunty Amanda etc !” and also “That’s not my daddy; that’s my . . My Grandpa etc.,) Each page showed a photo of a different member of our family, and also Alan’s family, so Leah quickly learned who was who. It was really useful as she didn’t see her northern relatives very often. If I say so myself it was a brilliant idea, inspired by one of her books called ‘That’s not my penguin’ by Fiona Watt.

Leah also loved ‘Sing and Sign’ music videos, and ‘Baby Einstein’.

I recall Sarah’s distress call once when she told me that Leah would only take breast milk and was refusing the bottle of formula milk, and seeing that now she had four teeth, it had become something of a problem. At times like this being 280 odd miles away, was difficult for us as parents, not being there on the spot to help out. But Alan’s parents have always been ‘hands on’ grandparents too, and Margery, Sarah’s mother-in-law, a former nurse, took Leah away from Sarah for 24 hours, and when she handed her back, Leah was taking the bottle. We were so thankful she was so well supported there.

Sarah accidentally locked Leah in the car once, as she got out at a garage on a fairly warm day, but she did her best not to panic. She had to wait forty minutes until the RAC man arrived to free her, so Sarah kept her occupied with ‘Sing and Sign’ songs through the window, watching her very carefully just in case emergency measures were required, but once freed, the RAC man gave Leah a giant cookie for being a good girl, and she wolfed it down.

We certainly got our laughs with Leah, she was hilarious!

As a toddler running around the grass in Marlowe Park with us once, she was knocked to the ground by a huge Red Setter which was running to collect a ball. The owner rushed over and apologised profusely to us, and introduced her dog Rusty to Leah. He seemed very friendly, but Leah raised her finger to the dog and gave it a telling off saying, “Rusty don’t do that again!’

When we looked after Leah, she and I would do artwork sessions together and play games and act out fairy stories, but it wasn’t a level playing field as she always got the star parts. For example, she would be Snow-White and I got to be, not only the wicked queen, but also the seven dwarves and the prince. She just loved being woken up with a kiss! Leah had loved this film, and Sarah explained to her that Great Granda Jack had been a miner too, digging not for diamonds, but for coal.

To which Leah replied innocently, “Was he a dwarf too?

On holiday in Pooley Bridge once, she did her best to protect Sarah, who was pushing Leah’s baby brother in a pushchair, when Leah saw some swans coming too near them at the lakeside. They were hissing, so she ran forward and cried out, “Get back mammy, I know Kung Fu!” She’d been watching Kung Fu Panda cartoons. “No Leah,” shouted Sarah, “you do not know Kung Fu, get back here!”

Leah and I also enjoyed doing ballet together too, ’Swan Lake’; we played ball games and wrestled on the lawn. “Get out of that!” I would say to her when she was little, holding her down, until she wriggled free. She offered to do it to me once, and I can honestly say I couldn’t move a muscle. She pinned me down, good and proper! Despite her size, she was strong. “You can get off me now Leah!” I had to say some time later.

This next song is one I wrote and recorded for Leah as a baby, based on the ‘acrostic’ name Sarah chose for her: (LEAH: Love everything about her)

L.E.A.H.

(Love Everything About Her)

Every day now it’s just the same,

Whenever we call her name.

Her eyes they’ll grow wide,

She’ll blink with surprise

She makes life so worthwhile .

We love everything about her,

When did ever a baby smile,

As much as our baby smiles...

She’ll sense where we are,

Near or afar

It’s us she’ll recognise.

We love everything about her...

Everything, everything, we love.

Eyes that spark with delight,

when she snuggles in tight.

She just captures our hearts with her gaze.

And when she’s asleep,

 she’s so cute and so sweet

We can hardly believe how she fills our days,

When we sing to her songs that rhyme,

When we clap to a tune in time,

She’ll chuckle with glee, and

Between you and me, she’s

a star before her time.

How we love everything about her,

love everything about her,

how we love everything about her,

Everything, everything we love.

Zip-a-dee doo da, zip-a-dee ay

My oh my, what a wonderful babe( –ee)

Plenty of sunshine heading our way,

Zip-a-dee doo da, zip-a-dee ay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VpE55Adwmc

Leah has become ‘a star before her time’ to us. She has a lovely personality, so patient and loving, so kind and caring. Even now whenever we receive any photographs of Leah, she is always laughing and full of joy. She loves doing crazy somersaults and backflips on the trampoline, and she and her brother Jake are competent skiers. She attends the Youth Group at church each week, and is an all-round sportswoman.

She has real talent as a Goal Shooter on her school and club netball teams, scores an average of 30 goals each match, and is often chosen as ‘player of the match’ by the opposition team, which is amazing.

She has always had remarkable ability in her drawing and painting, but now she is in High School, every piece of her artwork is fabulous! She overtook my skills as an artist a good while ago, and it makes me wonder whether her future career will be to do with art?

With skill like this, she’s well on the way!

It was my pleasure to baptise Leah Emily Hodson in Sarah and Alan’s church, St Mark’s in Maidenhead in July 2009.