From the beginning, Cal was loving yet independent, often shy but always unconventional. He would be the one going down a slide backwards or putting a sticker on his head rather than his clothes. He had a wonderful sense of humour and could always make us laugh even when we shouldn't. He hid behind this humour and yet that made him stand out but he was even more special for this reason.
He loved animals from an early age-especially our dog Del and cat Clive. After Del died in August 2002 we got another cat who is called Mandy-Cal picked her name. He could often be found curled up in their bed with them and sometimes fell asleep! They get their breakfast a lot later now that Cal isn't here to feed them. Cal's Mummy was so sad not to be able to buy him a tortoise following his fantastic SATS results but she did the best she could and sent the money to South Lakes Animal Park in Dalton which now houses Calvin the Tortoise and you can view him on this site. He will also be so pleased about the fantastic donations to the RSPCA in his memory-details on news section.
Cal never did things by halves. He decided to get the teething lark over quickly so didn't get his first one until 21 January 1998 and the rest swiftly followed. He learned to ride his bike without stabilisers in the summer of 2002 helped by his Mummy, Auntie Shan and cousin Dom. The next week, he and his Mummy went on a bike ride along the canal to Lea and back-a grand total of 11 kms. This led to his love of bike riding and indeed fixing bikes. He also enjoyed checking out how things worked-usually by taking them apart!
While Calvin did eventually decide to sleep in a more usual manner, he was always a morning person (not like his mother or sisters). We often heard him around 7 a.m.-even at weekends- going downstairs to raid the fridge for crunch corners and he would be whistling! What a fantastic approach to life-greet the day with a whistle not a frown. We could all learn from this.
Calvin didn't worry about conventions and still kissed and hugged his Mummy and baby sister goodbye in the playground. He was a very loving big brother to Tamsin and Sasha. Tamsin and he were very close because of our family situation and despite the usual sibling rivalry, would always defend each other. He helped his Mummy look after Tammy when she was little and didn't settle at nursery or school until she was there too. At nursery, the punishment for being silly was being sent to the baby room-guess who thought that was fun and a good idea because he could play with his little sister Tammy? Sasha was taught to say "bum", pick her nose, how to high 5, play on a PS 2 and had her first temporary tattoos all courtesy of her big bro whom she adored. He also sometimes read her a good night story which Mummy liked because he didn't enjoy reading unless it was fascinating facts, Ebay listings or books about animals.
