Wilbur and Victor

In the midst of all of this craziness Wilbur left his toddler days behind and is now a young child. 

Of course I am his mother so I am biased, but isn't he the most adorable child you've ever seen?

And so sweet natured.  After being his parents only pride and joy for all his life I would have excused him if he didn't take too kindly to the new interloper in the family.  But not a bit of it; he was the one of us who took to Victor right away.  He seemed so delighted to have a playmate and looked up to his new older brother with admiration. 

Things were obviously a bit topsy turvey at first as we weren't expecting Victors arrival (could there be a bigger understatement in the history of the world?) so, for example, we didn't have a bed for him.

Wilbur usually insisted that Victor take his and would instead sleep in the rocking chair.

 The rocking chair is actually extremely comfortable but, still, it was a lovely thing to do.

We put together a bunk bed as quickly as we could though; having your own bed makes a place your home and we wanted Victor to feel at home here as quickly as possible.

Here is the new piece of furniture.  I'm just, checking.  The toys.  To make sure they are all working.  Just in case he wants to play with them.

Wilbur also seemed to notice that Victor was distant from the rest of the family at first and would instigate games so he would feel included. 

As the season changed to winter again we were all one big happy family. 

And about to get bigger :-)

The New Arrival

OK, My life has officially gotten so weird I need to take some time out to write it all down so I can make sense of it all.  Hopefully it will clear my head a bit.

 So, this new kid, Victor, is my son.

Just my son.

Well, I'm guessing there has to be some other father out there but Edwin ain't it.

And how that happened I 'really' have no idea.

I mean I've heard of immaculate conception but even that lady knew she'd actually given birth even if she was a little hazy on the whole father figure thing!  I was there when I gave birth to Wilbur, trust me, it's not something you get blaise about and just forget that you did it.  No one is supposed to turn up after you've been out shopping with a baby in a basket saying 'Here, you left this behind'.  'Oh thanks!  I clean forgot I gave birth today, leave my own head behind one day I expect'.  Just, no.  Not going to happen.

So, then how exactly am I going to explain this to Edwin?  Especially when I have absolutely no idea how it happened.  When it happened! 

Victor doesn't seem to have any information at all on who his actual dad is, just that it's not Edwin.

He seems remarkably unfazed about the fact that he's some child of the future who has now travelled back in time to be with his mother who is currently stuck on an isolated island in some gods forsaken spot in the ocean.  So long as he can go all 'rodeo' on his pony, he's good.

Quite a brave boy really, thinks nothing of time travel and in the short time he's been here he's done his best to turn everything into an adventure.  As if things weren't freaky enough.

The trouble is we just weren't expecting him.  I was thinking I was about to get another baby not this fully grown child who isn't even Edwin's son!

For example at meal times we only have the small table so Victor eats alone outside.

I occasionally try my best to engage with the boy, after all he is my son apparently, but somehow it just doesn't work.

Wilbur is my son in more ways than biological.  He came from my body yes, but I've changed his nappies, held him when he's cried, stayed up all night when he was sick.  I am his mother and I have given him years of my love and affection.  I don't have that past history with Victor and it's isolating him.  He is a stranger amongst us.  But he is my son and I have a duty of care.

Wilbur, Edwin and myself are already alone as we have only ourselves, but he is truly alone and as his mother it keeps me awake thinking about it.

I remember how I felt as a child; first being ignored by Nemo and then in my utter desolate isolation.  I do not want that for my son.

Hence the going back to the books...

As you can see by my facial expressions it clearly hasn't gotten any easier.  Putting together that Time Machine was a cinch compared with this!

But

It does the job.  Once again I am reminded of something so obvious that I didn't see it because it was so obvious.

I have a son who is a stranger, who I feel no emotional attachment to and who feels no emotional attachment to me.

But it doesn't have to remain that way...

Victor.  My Son!

Wilbur... and his Older Brother?

Here he is, the Apple of my Eye.  My Beautiful, Bouncing, Bonnie Baby Boy.

He's growing up so fast. 

He won't have a normal childhood but we do our best to ensure that he's not deprived in any way. 

Explaining about daddy's little condition was a challenging task.  In the end I thought I handled it well.  I gently told him that Daddy was a ravenging monster who ate little boys who didn't go to bed on time.

Well it's one way to ensure a peaceful night's sleep.

Being parent is a huge challenge.  With no day care, no schools and no children his own age to play with Edwin and I are responsible for all of Wilbur's educational and social needs.

We make entertaining and instructional toys for him to play with and to make sure he knows how to use them properly I spend hours with him playing along.  Just for his benefit of course.

And because too many educational toys must be bad for developing a creative brain we also make a few which depend solely on imagination.  I'm just checking that everything works.

Mrrrmmmm.   Swwwwoooossshhh.  Rrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Daddy does his part; Edwin tells him many bed times stories.  Wilbur always seemed to prefer his to mine for some reason.

And he would go to sleep faster afterwards.

Hmmmm.  Maybe my parenting technique could use a little work.

Perhaps I'll practice on number two?

Yes, with Wilbur growing older we are both starting to think about providing him with a little brother or a sister.  I don't want him growing up alone, who knows how long it will be before he leaves here.  If he ever does.

Edwin is very keen on the idea of having another child.

A nice romantic night under a not full moon.

A loving kiss.

And then....

Well when you have a curious son in a house with no lockable doors you need to find slightly more creative ways of getting some 'alone time' if you want to avoid embarrassing situations!

Who knows, maybe Wilber has a little brother or sister on the way right now.

Oh my goodness.  Where did you come from?

I'm sorry, what did you say?  Can you please repeat that, I think I must have misheard you.

I didn't misshear you.

How?

When?

Where?

With WHO???!!!

,
,
,
,
,

Edwin.  Honey.  I have something I need to tell you...

My Husband the Overgrown Puppy

I can't say it was easy adjusting to the knowledge that my husband was a werewolf.  For one thing he used to seriously creep me out everytime he changed.  Most nights everything was fine and he could remain my handsome husband and I would mostly forget.  But every full moon...

Edwin does bring me back nice gifts from his time out hunting.  I didn't know there were so many gems and beautiful insects on our island.  He also brought me back a fair share of worms, slugs and other creepy crawlies.  Exactly what he thought I would do with them I have no idea.

I had to keep a careful eye out around the house on the nights of the full moon as well.  When he was out hunting the worst I had to deal with was the occasional blood curdling howl.  When he was inside the house however the furniture could take a real pounding if I wasn't there to intervene.  I've just started to get our home looking how I want it so I have no intention of letting an overgrown puppy chew and scratch everything into rubble. I always kept a roll of paper handy for a quick smack on the nose.  That always worked.  Then he'd usually head out for another round of hunting or go digging around in the garden or the trash can - yes, he was sulking. 

It's amazing how anything can start to seem normal if it happens enough.  One day I was laughing with Edwin about the amount of hair he sheds during 'his time of the month' and I realised I'd gotten used to it.  Somehow it just no longer bothered me. 

He seemed happy enough as he was, and when I thought back really the only concern he'd ever had was how his condition was upsetting me.  And once I realised that I managed to let go of the guilt I felt over being the one who had inflicted this 'curse' on him.  I'd always blamed myself for being too desperate to make Edwin human.  I'd meddled with things I didn't understand and I had been willing to pay the price.  In the end though I thought it was Edwin who had paid the price and I was ashamed.  They say you can forgive someone anything except the thought that you may have wronged them.  Once I realised that Edwin really didn't care I felt a great weight come off my shoulders.

Through all of my soul searching he continued to be the wonderful man and father he was.  He spent as much time with our son as he grew up as I did.

Even helping with the rather 'icky' parts of raising a child.

Edwin loved being a father and he loved the fact that our son was 'our' son.  Even when I was quite frankly freaking out about the fact that the love of my life grew fangs and ran around on all fours at least once a month, Edwin himself never once wavered in how he felt about me.

It was his steadfastness that made me realise that once again the island had offered me something amazing, and that once again there was a challenge to be overcome to gain it.  In the past I've mostly paid in hard work.  This time I had to pay with growing into tolerance and understanding.

It was a hard lesson but like everything I've learned here it was well worth the price.

With that trial behind us we reclaimed the magic that had never really left us but hadn't been enjoyed as much as it could have been over the last year. 

Edwin picked out a special star that we named after our son.  When he gets older we'll be able to show it to him, but for now it feels like this whole beautiful night sky has been made just for us.