CONVERSATIONS WITH LOUISE 3 AND USHERING IN THE YEAR OF LOVE…

There we were once again on the early morning flight to Brussels. It was a Saturday before the crack of dawn when we left Chania. I got this déjà vu feeling when we dragged our suitcases behind us, rumbling all the way to Yiannis’ jeep parked outside on the road, shivering in the mist when everyone else was still wallowing in the last dregs of sleep. The neighbours’ dogs sprang up, shook off the lingering sleep from their heads and yapped and barked and snarled at us. How many times have we done this and it still stirs the same feelings in me…excitement because we get to see little Louise and her parents, of course…and apprehension because of all the check-in and the queueing  up for passport/security control. The queues are long at any time of the day and whenever you go through screening there’s the fear that something will go…`beep beep beep’. It used to do it to me in the past…Was it my earrings?… A ring I had forgotten to remove?… The underwire of my bra?… A tooth filling?… Or was it my face?…Anyway now the system seems to be behaving or ignoring me and I’m perfectly fine with that.

This time we checked into the Eurostars Hotel in Montgomery, a ten minute walk from Annie’s place. The walk is along an avenue, long and wide, lined with buildings with 17th and 18th century facades; chubby cherubs and wreaths of roses and trees bent in the wind, shedding their last leaves, crinkled and brown, flying into the chilly gusts, roads jammed with vehicles blaring their horns, the juddering of jackhammers and the perpetual sirens piercing the icy air. It was nice to be in a big city again and feel the pulse of life…never mind the noise… and keep pace with the hurrying city folk, wrapped in warm coats and hoods pulled low and shoulders slightly hunched against the drizzle and cold blasts. Yiannis and I were, however, like small town bag people, lugging bags of goodies … carefully considered ones for Louise, warm trousers, pretty dresses and a sleeping bag and other items requested by Annie and hurriedly pulled off the shelves…tubs of dried mushrooms, boxes of Greek chocolate to compete with their famous Belgian counterparts, a red coat that had hung in her cupboard for centuries and now thought to be useful and some warm socks for Laurent.

It was around midday when we got to their place and the kids and their fat furry flat-faced Persian were there to welcome us. It was nice to step into the warmth of the apartment with the lingering smells of yesterday’s food and the morning’s breakfast and the rich aroma of coffee. We put our bags down and looked around for her…`She’s having a short snooze,’ said Annie. So we sat around chatting over tea…we had had too many coffees…and after a bit, Laurent stood up and walked to the baby’s room with the cat trotting behind him. Then out he came again followed by Miss catty and the baby in his arms…Oh behold!!!!…Louise now ten months was sitting straight up in her father’s arms and the once feathery hair on her head was growing into chestnut locks…Would she recognize us from last summer I wondered?…` Hi little girl.’ I said and Yiannis joined in with…`Yia patuhaki ‘[ Hi little feet ]…and sleep fell away from her lovely eyes and she gave us that wonderful Louise smile.

Right after lunch, a delicious Vietnamese takeaway and some wine, sleep was beginning to settle heavily on our lids when the couple announced that they were off for a nap and closed their bedroom door behind them…`Looks like she’s promptly and officially transferred to our care!’ I remarked and Yiannis nodded, stretched out on the couch and went out like a light. So there we were, Miss adaa adaa and I, trying to pick up from where we left off last summer. I was pleased to see that her linguistic skills had expanded in interesting ways. There was the usual `ba ba’ and `ma ma’, addressed to no one in particular and `mum’ when she spied food and `adaa adaa’ laced in a sweet lilt, presumably for happiness and pleasure. She crawled around cooing `adaa adaa’, with a small chewable giraffe in one fist that went `squeak squeak’ with every hit on the ground. I followed closely behind, trying to record her on video, intermittently shrieking…`No! Not there! Come here!’…No! Leave the cat alone!’ [She was trying to club Miss catty, curled up next to Yiannis, with the giraffe.] Finally she made her way to the coffee table, did a little bouncing dance on her bottom and started speaking to the tormented giraffe…and…Lo! There I was to witness a breakthrough in her linguistic repertoire! She lowered her voice to a low growl, banged the pitiful creature on the table…whack whack whack…squeak squeak squeak…and emitted a new word…`adaa adaa’ was the building block of this new utterance. She had wrenched off the `A’, scrunched her little face and growled menacingly at the giraffe…`DA AH! DA AH! with the last syllable rising sharply. The giraffe seemed to be the recipient of a good telling-off. Was this something rubbed off on Miss growly from the crèche, I wondered. I hear the women at the crèche, women in their 50’s, dinosaurs at the job, somewhat like convent school nuns, are strict with both the babies and parents.

The following week was a challenging week for Annie. There was this series of conferences that she had to attend. The arrangement was that Laurent would drop off Miss growly at the crèche on his way to work and we would pick her up in the evening. On Monday morning we let ourselves into the flat after struggling with the lock. Then like the maid-valet service, we got down to work. I sent Yiannis off to do the grocery shopping while I tidied the flat and ironed the clothes. Miss catty followed me around like a dark shadow. When he got back I did the chopping and cooking, a quick lunch, a little siesta, then more ironing and before we knew it, it was 6 in the evening. Yiannis rushed off with the pram and returned 20 minutes later with Louise with her large eyes, looking a little confused…`Where are my parents? And what are you both still doing here?’…`She didn’t want to come with me. She wanted to return to the woman’s arms, and the woman spoke only French,’ said Yiannis.

By the time the others got back Louise was fed and changed and in her sleeping bag appearing very angelic…there were no tell tale signs of what she had put us through. First of all, she liked her warm grubby diapers and clothes. As I tried to peel them off, she screamed blue murder. I could feel this rising palpitation in my throat as I pushed her flailing arms and legs into her pyjamas. But they had these awful press buttons that wouldn’t click into place…` Yianni come and help me! I can’t get these wretched buttons to work!’…I cried out frantically above the baby’s hysterical screams. We fumbled through it and got her into the sleeping bag. But…WHOA!!!!… that sleeping bag with the terrible zipper that I couldn’t slot in…Come on what’s the matter with these people! Why do they make things so finicky, where you’d need to consult You tube and sit through a couple of tutorials …PHEW! Anyway once we had finished dinner, the maid-valet service was over and we rushed back to the comfort of the hotel where we had a warm shower with all those sweet-smelling bath products and then lay spread-eagled on the bed.

The next day when Yiannis got back with Miss screamer, I asked…`So how was it?’…`It was another woman that handed Louise to me and she said, Louise had a good day today.’…`Oh, so this one spoke English,’ I said…` I’m not sure. She sounded as if she had learnt it off by heart.’ In the meantime Miss grumpy pants was warming up to us and trying to pull my nose. Her father usually pulls her nose and pinches her cheeks and she does it to her mother with squealing sounds of endearment. But with me it was slightly different. It was more as if she was trying to bully me…` Let’s give your nose a jolly good tug and see if you like it.’ So there I was, way down the pecking order and she reached out for my nose with an impish grin on her face. Something tells me that she tries it at the crèche with her baby mates and I wouldn’t be surprised if she becomes a serial nose pincher.

The last evening when Yiannis came back with Miss nose pincher, I asked about the women again…`So what did they say?’…` Oh this time it was the first woman again. She tried to speak English.’…`What did she say?’ I asked eagerly…` When we left, she waved at us and said GOOD MORNING.’ He also told me that Louise wanted to sit up in the pram and was threatening to cry. But he pushed the pram faster and she fell back, gave up trying and sang `adaa adaa’ all the way home.

So now we’re back in Chania. We both caught a bug from the kids. Yiannis shook his off in a couple of days but my bug decided to incubate further and blossomed into other things like a hacking cough. But I’m fine now and rushing to get the tree up and preparations for the festivities rolling.

Sister number 2 told me that in 2023 the planets will be lined up for LOVE. So with that I wish you all A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A NEW YEAR FULL OF LOVE AND JOY!!!