Toddle Off!

People, people!! 

We are through the looking glass here people!

‘El Destructo’ has now become a vastly improved machine of devastation.  Yes, you got it, the boy is now officially walking!

Ok, I suppose it’s more toddling, but we have since disposed of the need for furniture and people to walk around the room.  Yep, now nothing is safe…

I must admit, we were wondering how long it would actually take him to make the transition from cruising on the furniture to full on walking, it does appear that he very much works to his own timescale.  He was the same with the whole rolling over, crawling, etc.  He just seems to want to be independent, which is dangerous in a child that isn’t even one yet…

Anyway, he has found his feet and is already terrorising the household.  He can already be found wandering around with that ‘what can I destroy next’ look on his face, the cats already know to hide and his sister has been warned.  Let the joy begin!

I think it is safe to say that ‘baby’ has definitely now been replaced with a ‘person’.

Christ, that was quick….

(Photo a bit blurred, rubbish phone, but he wouldn’t stay still.  He thinks I wanted the sock that was in his mouth.  Yes, dear readers, a sock… *shakes head*)

Shin Guards On…..

Right, lots been going on.

First off, the big news……  The boy is crawling!!

Yes, that’s right, from out of nowhere we now have a crawling destruction machine.  He’s been crusing along the furniture for a few weeks now, and loves to be on his feet, walking along with Mummy and Daddy.  He did not seem interested in crawling so we assumed that he wouldn’t bother.

My, we were wrong….

He learnt in the space of an hour.  He went from his normal sitting position, leant over for a toy and usual ended up on his tummy.  He did this a few times, until suddenly, he was up on his arms, then the bum come up!  He was on his knees.  A few tentative attempts…

Then he was off!!  And he has not stopped since.  He is deceptively quick and you can’t put anything down anymore, it’s gone.  Toys are no longer out of reach and the daughter now lives in fear.  She isn’t used to being chased around by anyone apart from Daddy, now there’s something going for her ankles!  Bless (he says whilst laughing!)

Anyway, I am a very proud Daddy and am now scared.  Very. 

No, no, no, get away from my TV…………

Secondly, another excuse for my absence, do you remember me saying that my job has been taken away?  Yeah, still is going to be, but in the mean time they are expecting me to run that section of the department on my own again!  Now, the professional in me says fine, I’ve been doing it anyway, but….

The other part of me says……… well, I can’t type it here, but along the lines of why should I bother?  Why would I do it when they’ve taken my job away?

I don’t know, just think they’re taking the ….. wotsit.

200 and still going!

So, here we are, my 200th post! 

Ok, not really a big deal to anybody but me, but I never thought I’d last this long.  yes, I don’t post as regular as I should and it’s not always that interesting, but hey, I’m still here and so are you lovely lot, so I must be doing something right!

Anyway, for this post I thought I’d share the latest milestone.

My boy, the other day, called me Dada.

*sniff*  *wipes tear from eye*

Yep, proud daddy over here.  He’s, what, eight months old and has only just started trying to form words and sentences.  Well guess what world, dada was one of his first noises/grunts!

I completely disregard any other noises that may have come before and may have resembled other words.  No Mummy, this ones mine!

Well done boy, keep rocking out!!

And as an extra offering, the wonderful people WilderSoul have generously pointed me to their free pictures, from their colouring book, for readers to download and enjoy.  There are some really nice pictures to choose from, please stop by when you’ve finished reading!

Thank you, to everybody that has read and even followed my random mutterings.  It’s been a jumbled journey thus far, but I’ve enjoyed doing it and I hope you enjoy at least some of my randomness!

Thank you people.  J.

OMG. The Pig is back!

I have voiced my concerns before on this subject.  You may recall.

I have aired my concerns over a certain animated pig and how evil and disruptive I think it is.  I still believe that the message being sent out by one Peppa Pig and her sidekick George, has dastardly intentions set on making other people’s lives a misery.

I still have stains on my carpet due to the incessant nagging of the pig family to jump in muddy puddles.  I have not forgotten.

However, I thought that I had managed to outlive the pig as now the daughter is three, she has moved on to other disruptive influences.  A child that believes she’s a doctor leading me to think that one day I’m going to return home to a living room full of stuffing and dismembered limbs.  Yes, you Doc McStuffins.

Or this boy Jake and his pirates.  Is it really a good message to give young children that a stick is a sword?  Really?  You’ve obviously never been beaten with one.

Don’t get me started on the monkey that lives in the apartment…. jeez…

Anyway, as I say, the pig is back onto my TV screen.  It turns out that the appeal of said pork by-product reaches young boys too.  Yep, my little boy is now watching the dreaded thing.  I only put it on because it gives me five minutes peace.  If it was only five minutes…..  Why do they insist on putting 27 episodes on in one go?  Maybe it’s their break too….

But you know what’s even worse?!  Can you guess?  No?  Well…

What makes it worse is that it is the same episodes as before!  Yes, the years worth of Peppa Pig episodes I had to endure the first time, are back but this time I know what’s coming!  I tell you, if I had hair I’d be ripping it out!!

I’ve got to get him interested in something else.  Too young for Postman Pat, don’t like Fireman Sam and Thomas the Tank Engine will not be on in my house…. Ever.

That Was The Weekend That Was….

I really must do this more often…….

Well, what an eventful weekend.  Maybe not eventful as ………. tiring.

First off I have to thank Uncle Jason and Aunty Amy for taking the daughter to the beach yesterday and also for letting her sleep over on Saturday night.  I’m not going to say it was nice for a bit of peace, see I didn’t, but I know that she thoroughly enjoyed herself and loved every minute of it.  Thank you.

On the flip side to that, I have a little boy who is still out of sorts.  He is still off his food and milk and keeps crying, mainly when I’m trying to sleep.  It’s not his fault, bless him, just wish I knew what the problem was.

The daughter had a sore throat last week so we think he may have a case of that, add in the wonderful topic of teething, and I think we have the whole package.  It also doesn’t help that it’s so bleedin’ hot!

But saying that, I think he has turned the corner and is recovering.  Up until last night he was sleeping a lot better than a few days ago.  Oh well, we can but help he’s on the mend.

Other than the children, the weekend was kinda boring.  I spent some time sitting, cutting the grass and little gardening, and a load of housework, interspersed with many periods of ‘sit-down’.  Why did I ever think it would be a good idea to tidy up when it’s roasting??

Obviously, the TV was showing the tennis yesterday, due to the wife’s insistance.  It’s good that a Brit has finally won Wimbledon, but I’m just glad he did it in three sets and not five.  It ended earlier than I expected!  Well, I had Top Gear to watch……

There ain’t enough hours in the day…

Do you ever get that feeling in the morning when you’ve just woken up, look at the clock and go, ‘what the hell just happened?  It’s Thursday already?’

Days merge.  Hours disappear.  Minutes just don’t exist.

Before you say it, yes I know I obviously can’t plan my time properly.  But hey, I got two kids and a wife.  Give me a break!

It’s very difficult to plan each and every minute of the day when you have children.  When you think they are in their room playing nicely, giving you a minute’s breather, as soon as your cheeks hit that chair, ‘Daddy, can I sit with you?’

What the…

I swear all ninja’s in the world are really children.  Their stealth abilities are second to none.

Anyway, I don’t seem to be able to pace out my day.  I have so much to do in the evenings, yet never seem to be able to do anything.  Take this blog for instance, the randomness of my posting befits my lack of time.  If you can keep a secret, most of the time when I write to here I’m at work.  Yes I know, technically I’m not allowed and I will get found out one day, but it’s the only time I get to talk to you lot!

Now I have also taken on some extra work for others which I need to do at home when I can.  Which I can’t.  There’s not enough time.

I wish I could afford a child minder or nanny or something.  Or that I didn’t have to work.  That would be the best.  No work.

Maybe I am a good Father?!

Well, here we are.  It’s Sunday night.

I have managed to make it to the end of the weekend and all three of us are still in one piece.  It’s lucky I don’t have hair otherwise I would have pulled it out.

Actually, I’m quite surprised that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.  The children were actually remarkably well behaved.  There were a few tears and bouts of crying at the beginning, but I was fine after an hour.

There was also a brief sticky moment on the first night when whilst putting the eldest to bed she turns and asks ‘where’s Mummy’.  My first instinct is to reply, ‘she’s run off with the milkman and joined the circus.  She lives in a trailer now’.  But I stopped myself before it was too late, she would never have believed me.

We don’t have a milkman.

The worst of it all was the Saturday.  One whole day of responsibility, what was I going to do?!

Well, I tried my best but in the end I have to thank Disney for it’s help, I couldn’t have done it without them.

I know, I know.  Don’t start. Television is not the answer and does not make a good childcare attendant but hey, I’m inexperienced and somewhat desperate, so I don’t care what you think.  The kids loved it so I’m happy.  It’s not like I sat them in front of the telly and went out for a couple of hours, I was actually in the same room!

Anyway, all things considered I think what I’ll take away from all this is proof.  Proof that I am actually a good daddy and that I can look after my own kids.

Sounds daft to say that, but it’s true, you always have the nagging doubt in the mind that if a situation came around and I had to be a lone parent (only for a day hopefully), would I be able to cope?  I think that I can confidently say that I could do it.  I could be the responsible one.

Ooh, it’s gone all Springer.  ‘My thought for the day…………………….’

 

Devoted Family Man

Ok, so we all know that times are tough.

It’s time to tighten those belts, scrimp on the excess, stop wasting stuff, etc. etc.  It’s difficult though, isn’t it.

It’s not easy giving up those things you enjoy.  You work hard all week to earn money to treat yourself with a little bit of respect and splurge every now and again.  Enjoy the finer things in life that makes you happy.  You don’t do these things every day, just on occasion it’s a nice treat.

Fine.  Ok, I can do that.

Then you stop buying the unnecessary items.  You don’t buy a cd or dvd the day it comes out.  You wait a couple of months until it ends up in the sale section, then you can buy it.  Saved yourself a fiver.

Ok, you get the hint, everybody is skint.

I have just gone through my monthly expenditure in a vain hope of trimming it down.  Not a hope.  In fact I have just added a load as the daughter has started nursery.  Bugger.  Something has to go.

No, no, wait, don’t be too hasty!!  Not my Sky Sports!!  Noooooooooooo!!

A bit dramatic.  But it’s true, as of last night I have relinquished my Sky Sports.  That’s a saving of about £15 a month.  Not bad I thought.

But wait.  There’s an offer on.

……………….

I have Sky Movies!!

Yep, as a devoted father of two and dedicated husband, I have given up my sports package so that the family can sit about all day on their arses and watch films.  And to what end??

I’ve saved £5 a month.

Not a big amount, certainly not as much as if I got rid of Sky altogether (saving me £60 a month!), but it’s those little savings that add up.

No, I don’t believe me either, but hey, I tried.

Children: Do they have to have a birthday every year?!

I apologise for my absence and lack of posts over the last few days but as the title may suggest, I have been a little preoccupied recently.

Yes, my darling daughter was three yesterday and the last week or so had been booked out for ‘planning’.

By that statement you would probably assume that the whole thing was a large affair with lots of guests, attractions and the odd wild animal.  But you’d be wrong.

The day was a simple one.  Food and drinks, at home, with the family.  Simple.
If you’re organised that is.

I had made the downstairs look all birthdayish, banners balloons and the such, and the presents were wrapped and positioned correctly.  This I can do, by myself whilst watching the telly.

But on the day, I just don’t work well when other people are involved.  Mind you I don’t work well at the best of times, but when it involves cooking it’s best to leave it to other people.  I end up forgetting times, what I’ve cooked and where I left the scissors, or I just end up eating most of it as I go along.

Anyway, all this aside, I think the day went perfectly.  The daughter was delighted with all her presents (her new bike being the favourite), loved the fact that so many people came to her Rapunzel party and ate most of the food on offer.  She was happy.

And a highlight of the day was the specatacular cake that was made and supplied by Aunty Amy.  What little girl would not be astounded to receive a replica Disney castle?! In a hope that she reads this, thank you Amy, you are a very talented genius.

And that’s all that mattered.  And as an added bonus, even after all the food and drink consumed, the usual bedtime was adhered to and it was a relatively peaceful night for everyone.

Now, how does one remove tyre tracks from one’s living room carpet…..

It’s a joke! Sometimes…