I Am That Dad

This weekend we celebrated my father's 60th birthday. Apart from the sobering thought that if I had become a father at the same age as my dad, I would have a 17 year old son by now, it got me thinking about Noah's heritage. Happily my dad and our relatives before him have also been interested in this subject and have already compiled a mountain of information; it's truely like an episode of Who Do You Think You Are. I won't bore you with it here, but it turns out that Noah is the first and possibly only Reilly of his generation and thus the responsibility for the continuation of our line lies with him. The name of Reilly we can trace back to the early 1700's and there have been a number of prominent people along the way, lords and sirs and Captains and Colonels. I feel more research is warranted for the Reilly family, but the real mystery is my mother's side. Who are the Robinson's? I know nothing beyond my grandfather whom was a carpenter and car factory f...

So, it has been a long time since I have written anything about being a dad.  In that  time Noah had learnt to walk, continued to not eat much, spoken a couple of words and sentences he seems to have subsequently forgotten and become incredibly clingy to his dad (yes that's me). I can't go to the toilet, let alone work without much crying and griping. Which is strange in itself, I feel enormously good in myself when all Noah wants is his daddy, and then extraordinarily tired when the realisation hits that 'daddy' is the only one that he wants. As a father this is a pivotal moment, something to be cherished, something to be remembered. This is the moment you are important, you must remember this, seriously, it's a turning point in your baby's development. This is the first time that you trump the boob and if your child is a boy, possibly the last time you come before a boob for years to come. Yes, for the first time in 14 months I am wanted before mummy and...