Chip off the old block? Charlie’s angels; or Hazel’s Charlies? (“Can’t you manage to look pleasant for 1/500th of a second?” Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes)
Today some complete stranger stopped me in the street and asked “Is that a real baby?” I’d like to hope that she meant “That baby is so little / bald / white / cute he could almost be a doll”, and not “you look like someone who might take their dollies for walkies”.
Today we started the process of applying for a birth certificate at the civil registry. This is a four stage operation:
Stage One. Go to civil registry, take numbered ticket and sit in line for an hour or two in order to collect a list of the pieces of paper that you need to bring with you next time. (If you’ve already registered a child then you might risk missing out this stage, except that the rules change quite regularly, and every province operates their own system).
Stage Two. Gather your pieces of paper, currently required;
- Paediatrician’s certificate “A child was born”
- Gynaecologist’s certificate “A child was born to this woman”
- Mother’s DNI (national ID document) “This woman is officially recognised as existing”
- Father’s DNI document “So is this man”
- Mother and Father’s marriage certificate (if unmarried, both parents have to attend and sign another piece of paper to acknowledge joint culpability in producing this child)
Stage Three. Return with your pieces of paper, take numbered ticket and sit in line for an hour or two in order to have your documentation officially acknowledged as being in order. Receive a written chit with a dated and timed appointment for around a week’s time.
Fortunately by having a little friend in the civil registry we were able to miss out stage one by visiting her at home, and, better and better, we also avoided the queuing part of stage three since friend caught my eye when as we arrived this morning so we found ourselves whisked past the queue, hurried round to the staff side of the counter and our paperwork checked in a jiffy while Daniel distracted the colleagues by looking cute. So now we have made it to:
Stage Four. We’re hoping this is the one where we actually receive a birth certificate. Our appointment is next Tuesday; we’ll let you know!