I Am That Dad

Bedtime. As most of my regular readers will know we struggle a little with bedtimes in our house. Noah hates to sleep, it just gets in the way of playing. He considers it a total waste of his time and to be fair, I find it hard to argue with him as I have felt the same way about sleep for most of my life. Until becoming a parent that is and somewhat surprisingly (to me anyway) I find it has gone up more than just a few notches in value now that I don't get any of it at all. Sometimes I stumble into work in the morning, only recalling the night before in a bit of a haze, and I have scratches and bruises I cant explain. I am beginning, and not for the first time, to wonder if I am living out the plot of Fight Club, though as those of you in the know already know. We don't talk about Fight Club. Anyway, back to bedtime. Since Ellie was born, bedtimes with Noah have regressed somewhat. Or perhaps it is because we have hit the so called 'terrible twos'. Maybe both. In any ...

So last night this happened. I am reading Noah his bedtime story, one of his favourites, Dinosaurumpus, when he decides he would rather have mummy put him to bed.  'Away daddy, away.' he says, 'Aww dont you want me to read you a story? Daddy hasn't seen you all day.' I reply. 'Away daddy away' this time emphasising his desire with an open palm shove to the face. 'Hey that's not nice, don't push me. Especially not in the face.' I say, trying not to make too big a deal out of it. 'How about I just finish this book then? We're nearly at the end and this is one of my favourites.' 'Kay. Finish book daddy.' Im pretty chuffed, I feel I have negotiated quite well there, with no drama or tears and Noah has been very grown up about the decision. Then, leaning across me Noah reaches over to the book and flips to the last page. Looking up at me with a look I can only describe as slyly smug he informs m...

Well some perhaps... Nearly a full month ago now, we bought Noah his first "big boy bed". We have tried to make a bit of a big deal out of how cool it is to have his own room and his own bed, and it seems to have been working. We have been reading his stories in there every night, but when actually going to sleep he  wanted to come into our bed still, with either Nikala or I transferring him to his own bed once he was asleep. Things progressed and he started to want to go to sleep in his own bed at first. Not all the time, but occasionally. He would of course still wake in the night and return to our bed, taking up most of it and pushing the covers right down as he hates to have his legs covered up. Sunday night on the 22nd June 2014 we had a breakthrough. Noah went to sleep in his bed. Stayed there all night and woke up after me when I was getting ready for work in the morning. Amazing! Let me reiterate just how amazing this was. For the last two years, one month, ...

You may recall that I was mid preparation for Noah's 2nd birthday party which was all arranged and happened to fall exactly two weeks after Ellie was born. So you can imagine the state of mind both Nikala and I were in whilst I was also running around frantically trying to put into action all my plans for the ensuing Minion madness. Yes, I was pretty stressed. Anyway as promised here is my Minion cake creation. I actually found a great recipe that froze well, allowing me to bake the cakes a week or two in advance and reducing the panic on the night before. A little. Well OK I was still pretty panicked and with panic comes just a hint of anger and frustration. So sorry to anyone that found themselves around me for those last few hours building up to the big event. Cakes wrapped and ready for freezing. And now thawing ready for the build. Beginning to take form. The sandwich layers are stuck together with chocolate ganache. And then covered with a "cru...

One month ago Noah's little sister Ellie was born and he has found it quite a challenge adapting to the new arrival. He has actually reacted very positively for the most part, but there are obviously warring emotions within. He is wrestling with the excitement of being a big brother, wanting his little sister to sit on his lap, to come with him everywhere, to play with him, to bath with him and to sleep with him in his new big boy bed. But at the same time there is a frustration and jealousy showing through. Occasional hitting and pulling of arms and legs and general roughness.  Which though difficult is understandable given that until a month ago he was the centre of attention for not only his mummy and daddy, but also his Grandma and Granddad. It has been a big change and for the most part I am very proud of the way he is adapting. That's not to say there hasn't been a a couple of undesirable incidents. there has been some pushing and fighting occurring with his cousins, ...

It was at about this time last year that I should have been preparing for Noah's first birthday party. But with nearly six weeks to go I thought I had all the time in world. At 4am on the morning of his birthday party, up to my elbows in icing sugar and green food colouring, staring at the myriad of bowls and cakey paraphernalia surrounding me like General Custer's last stand, I sorely regretted that cavalier decision. Furthermore I asked myself the very serious question of 'why on earth was I killing myself to make and decorate a dinosaur cake he definitely wouldn't remember and probably wouldn't even taste?' Well, I guess it was for me. I wanted to celebrate my little boys first birthday party. The making of that cake was so stressful that the thought of writing about it and reliving those events proved to much for me to bear! How awful of me not to write about Noah's birthday in the very blog I created to record experiences such as these. Well the time ...

Over the last couple of weeks Noah has become much more daddy oriented. I am definitely the one in favour at the moment and I have to admit, I quite like it. It can be tiring of course but its lovely when I get home after a hard days work to be excitedly greeted as I walk in the door. Little feet scampering as my key turns the lock, excited cries of "Daddy,daddy, daddy! Happy! Happy! Daddy, happy!" Ahh my little Noah! I exclaim. I'm happy to see you too. Did you have a good day? Come and give daddy a big hug and tell me all about it. We let Noah watch Despicable Me 2 recently, realising too late that it was probably somewhat inappropriate for a nearly two year old.  Since seeing it though, he has become completely obsessed with Minions. If you are unfamiliar with the film, the Minions are Dr Gru's (the main character), well, minions or henchmen if you prefer. They are cute little yellow things that generally mess up most of the time in a lovable way. Noah has a...