Dear Diary: October 17, 2014
It's been a few weeks since the birth and things have been very happy and bright here in our household. The night of the birth or the day after I should say; Keith and Leah with the help of Sue buried the placenta behind their house. Sue did some chanting while this was happening. In most Native American cultures, if the placenta is buried behind the house it is a way of protection of the baby and the family from the Gods and their ancestors. Also at birth, Sava weighed a very healthy 8 lbs and 9 oz. He was a bit plump but not too bad and what we found very interesting was that when he breastfed, his eyes remained open, staring. Like he didn't want to miss a single moment of the world he was a part of.
Unlike Nessie, Sava was a fussy sleeper. Leah had to be with him and so was Keith as he fell asleep but he took to his nursery immediately and they didn't have to worry about him sleeping in a little bassinet in their room. When they first showed him the nursery, he was in awe of it despite only being a few days old which again reminded us that he was not a regular human baby. His growth was a lot slower than Nessie's had been but still much more accelerated then a humans'. Just like Nessie, I weighed and measured him every day. But unlike Nessie where there had been uncertainty and concern, we had delight.
Rogue had already told us not to worry. Instead we were all focused on the baby changing before our eyes and looking forward to Halloween in a few weeks. Last year Halloween was not as fun as it should be, what with Carrie's execution and all. But this year we had something new to celebrate and Rogue's birthday of course, though she did ask us not to do anything special. We decided that since Sava was going to be toddler size by then, we would all just go trick or treating in our neighborhood. Something we had not ever done previously before though plenty of kids showed up at our door and were usually given candy by Alice or when we were still in Forks, we would sometimes do a haunted house in our own house for the neighborhood kids. That was a possibility too.
There was still some time to think about that including what kind of costume Sava would wear. But that's where you guys come in. Instead of letting Alice just pick something for Sava; I want you guys to pick and choose what Sava will wear. The contest has already been set up; all you have to do is pick and vote. I hope it's something adorable. Good luck! But I digress. We have plenty of time to think about Halloween.
In other news, the snow that fell on the night that Sava was born had already melted and autumn returned with a touch of spring. Jacob muttered that Mother Nature was bipolar and I didn't disagree with him. Sue was still with us as she wanted to stay with her grandson for as long as possible though she did miss Charlie a lot. They spent a lot of time on the phone each night and even Skype which she taught him to use before she left. Charlie was never Mr. 21st Century so some things he needed to learn and though he grumbled, being away from his wife wasn't fun so he put up with all the new technology.
Not that he had a smartphone or anything; even members of his staff at the Mayor's office teased him about the fact of how behind on everything he was. In order to run for Mayor he had to learn basic computer software skills like email and Microsoft Office. He kept grouching about how stupid the computer was. That's Charlie for you, nothing changes. But he was a wonderful Mayor and the townspeople were glad he was in office as he solved problems quickly and efficiently. There was talk that he may run for governor but he put those rumors to rest saying, being Mayor was as high as he wanted his political campaign to run and that after it was over, he would retire altogether; which suited him and Sue just fine as both were grandparents now.
Again I digress. As news of the birth reached far and wide, the Denali clan came to see this new hybrid for themselves. They were instantly all besotted by him. Sava however, played favorites and for some unknown reason, he seemed to gravitate toward Marcus more. No one could figure out why, least of all Marcus who didn't know the first thing about children. Poor Marcus was always panicked when Sava would reach out for him but Leah and Tanya would help him out as best as they could. Sava was able to stand up in his crib on his own about 2 weeks after birth. He hadn't managed the art of climbing over the rails yet much to Leah and Keith's relief but he was getting there.
Seth was a proud uncle who taught the very smart and savvy kid to give him a high five each time he came into the room. Sava loved to scamper up into Seth's arms and just hang out there. Sava definitely was named correctly as he always stared at people who were in the room with him. It was never an uncomfortable stare but one like he was trying to piece together their connection to each other and to himself. He liked Nessie because he felt like they had a bond of some sort and of course they did; though different, they were the only two hybrids in the family.
Sava started speaking very quickly and though most of it was baby gibberish at first, he called Leah "mama" and Keith "papa". The rest of us had to settle with whatever he thought of us that particular day. We went along with it. Sooner or later we would all get names or nicknames from the adorable brown eyed boy whom no one could resist. Soon after that Sue became "nanna". We were moving in the right direction.
One day, just after I finished measuring and weighing Sava and had placed him back in his crib, he stood back up and looked at us. He was always very patient when I did my routine with him as if he knew it was very important that he stayed still and behaved. As I was writing down the new measurements, I stood between Jacob and Keith. Leah, Seth, and Sue were also in the room. Sava looked at Seth, pointed, and said:
"Woof."
Everyone stopped talking and looked at him perplexed. What was he trying to say? I looked up from my journals too. He then moved his arm toward Jacob whom he also looked straight in the eyes and again said:
"Woof."
Now we were really confused. He paid us no mind as he continued, this time he pointed to Leah and said:
"Mama woof."
Lastly, just as someone was going to say something, he pointed at himself bringing his tiny finger to his own chest and said:
"Woof."
There was a beat of silence or two before Sue spoke up:
"Oh my God! He means wolf! He realizes who's a wolf and who's not!"
"Wow! He knew that Seth, Jacob, and I are wolves and there's some wolf in him too." Leah said excitedly.
"That's definitely something. To realize connections like that on a level that's not obvious to the human eye." I said as I wrote faster in my notes noting every single thing that had just happened here. This was going to be fantastic in my new journal which was chronicling Sava's growth and reactions. This was a huge one.
"But wait, if he knows he is a wolf, that won't have him start phasing now, will it?" Leah asked Keith worriedly. That's really the last thing anyone needed.
"No he won't start phasing until he's like 6 or 7 in human years." Rogue said from the doorway. We guessed Keith called her telepathically. She knew more about this then he or anyone else did.
"Are you sure?" Keith asked uncertainly. Rogue smiled.
"I took a look at his DNA. And don't ask how." She said before I asked. Sometimes we just had to take her word for it. I shook my head and rolled my eyes as she winked at me and I continued to write in my journal.
"I have an idea. I want to test his connections." She said then as we all looked at her confused.
"Test his connections? What do you mean?" Seth was the one who asked.
"You know how he was able to tell who was a wolf and who wasn't? Well I want to see if he can do the same with familial bonds and such." She replied.
"Will it hurt him?" Leah asked as that was her primary concern.
"Not at all. Actually it's like an art project for him; bring him out of his crib and place him on the rug please." Rogue explained and requested as Leah did what was asked of her.
Once Sava was sitting on the rug looking up at Rogue with interest, she produced a large piece of white poster board paper, the kind you saw kids doing projects on in school along with some crayons and a stack of pictures out of thin air. She crouched down on the rug in front of Sava as she placed the poster board and box of crayons in front of him. She then placed the stack of photos down too and splayed them out. We realized they were pictures of us; all of us as in Cullen's, Watchers, Wolves, and even the Denali's. The pictures weren't in any particular order so if one didn't know us, they wouldn't be able to tell who was who and who was related or married to whom.
"Ok Sava, see if you can make the connections." She told him with a smile.
His eyes lit up and he started looking through the box of crayons until he found the two colors he was looking for; green and brown. The fact that he could tell which color was which, was something else that I wrote down in my journal. Then he started going through the photos one by one as if memorizing the faces and placing them into little piles on the floor. I decided to watch this as most of the others left the room until the only ones left save for Sava were Leah, Keith, and I. Everyone else headed to the main house to wait for the results.
It took about an hour but when we got back to the house and showed the others the connection board he had made, everyone's eyeballs were bugging out of their heads. Not only did Sava figure out the familial connections but he was able to connect who was married to whom and so forth. He connected Alexander to Marcus as they were family and Tanya to Kate. Then there was an intricate connection of all of the Watchers to Rogue as both leader and mother. Sava was extraordinary and he was only a few weeks old. Connections were made that no one unless you knew all of our stories and histories could have put together like the Cullen's and Denali's being "cousins".
He didn't have the words for his connections but his lines which also included the colors blue, red, orange, and purple explained what in words he was still unable to do but not for much longer. I knew that by Halloween, Sava would be able to speak well if not clearly. I could only imagine what names he'd give all of us because though we were all different, at the very bottom, he connected all of the lines together in what looked like a sun. We were all his family; he realized that. Looked like our little miracle hybrid had discovered his first gift. We had much more to learn from each other.
Woof.
~Carlisle Cullen