Harvey was born in November 2017. It was a natural birth, though assisted with ventouse, and he had early jaundice. The first years that followed were ordinary in the best way. He met every developmental milestone, was curious and bright, and by 2018 and 2019 we were simply watching a healthy little boy grow.
In 2019 he had two febrile convulsions within the space of a year. They were frightening at the time, but they passed, and life continued.
Through 2020 he kept meeting every milestone. Harvey loved being read to and was an early reader with a fantastic memory. He could memorise books well above his age word for word simply from listening, and could recall hundreds of dinosaur names and key facts on any topic that interested him — something he still does to this day. Once you told Harvey something, he would remember it.
In his early years he was not the most physical of children; his talents were more intellectual than physical. Nonetheless, we felt that Harvey had a special gift and a wonderful mind.
(We only mention this because of our curiosity that perhaps his mind works differently, and that the seizures may in some way be a consequence of how, in layperson's terms, he is wired. We hope that another parent reading this might consider the same — not that we are emphasising how smart our child is, but simply that children with absence seizures may (not always, but sometimes) be different in a good way).