I Am That Dad

I received an early Christmas present from Noah last night and even though I've yet to open any others, I think it might be the best one of the year.   He slept right through!  I can count the number of times that has occurred on... well on three of my fingers actually. Needless to say I had to check on him repeatedly as I was worried that he hadn't woken as usual. So I still didn't sleep particularly well anyway, but I did sleep in my own bed for once, even though we had to share that with little Ellie. I really hope that she will be a better sleeper than Noah.

Christmas time is approaching fast, in fact it is just two sleeps away and I am delighted to say that all our Christmas present shopping is finally complete, no last minute Christmas Eve panic for us. Of course there is still all the food and nibbles to get, but I don't find that nearly as stressful for some reason.  However, a  couple weeks ago whilst out shopping for various nieces and nephews, Nikala was with Noah in a big toy shop and Noah saw a giant dinosaur. Noah took such a fancy tot his behemoth of a beast that he carried that t-rex all over the shop, even though it was almost as big as him. The only way Nikala could persuade him to put it down was to say: 'You never know, maybe Father Christmas will bring it for you.'  Fast forward a couple of weeks to last night and we are in the front room.  Noah is rooting around in Nikala's handbag which is hanging at the end of the banisters at the bottom of the stairs. Then this convers...

I may have mentioned before that being a working father like most other fathers, I usually miss all the "firsts" for our children. On Monday 3rd November 2014 whilst travelling to work, I received a text from Nikala informing me that Ellie had rolled from front to back for the first time. Great news of course, but once again I had missed it, and although I knew I would get a repeat performance it is never the same as being there for the first time when your child does something new or reaches one of those pivotal developmental stages. I appreciate that it sounds a little silly to be upset about missing something as "unimportant" as a child rolling from its back to its tummy, but when it is your own child these small achievements suddenly seem monumental and when you miss all those little things it begins to add up. Before you know it it feels like you are missing your child growing up. As I type this I can imagine my younger self, the one before children reading i...

I understand its fairly common for children to go through a phase of loving dinosaurs, but one of the side affects of Noah's ongoing obsession with all things dino that I hadn't foreseen is just how much I have learnt about them all. I know more Jurassic, or indeed Triassic or Cretaceous, facts now than I have ever learned in my previous 39 years. Much of this is due to having watched Andy's Dinosaur Adventures on Cbeebies several (thousands of) times. I know the theme tune and all his dino raps off by heart and so does Noah. Noah's ability to remember dinosaur facts is positively sponge-like. For instance, Brachiosauruses were very tall, reaching the heights of two double decker buses stacked on top one another, whilst a Stegosaurus was as big as a single double decker bus (I always thought they were more the size of a car). Velociraptors were only slightly larger than a free range chicken and probably had feathers too. I feel cheated and lied to by Jurassic Park! ...

We have been learning numbers for a while now, for the last few months Noah has been getting to grips with numeracy. Noah immediately grasped the concept of counting and recognised spoken numbers as a countdown (or indeed up) to something, the start of a race for example. Its just that he wouldn't necessarily say the right numbers in the right sequence. We would often be in the garden racing each other from end to end and he would stand there and "count" us in. 'Two, four, ten GO!' he would shout before tearing off down the garden, cackling in delight. He also quickly made the connection that numbers often referenced more than one of something. When a single piece of mango was placed on his plate he would immediately look up and politely ask 'Two, four, ten now?' Noah can now count from 1 to 10 and I am immensely proud, though I should probably acknowledge the fact that it is more of a recital of sounds rather than an understanding what th...

There we were, driving along, I forget where to, and Ellie was crying. Not an unusual occurrence in the car due in part to the fact that she doesn't like the car seat. Doesn't like it at all. But today there is another reason. Noah is making the most unpleasant of screeching sounds at the top of his voice. It went something like this: "yeeaaaaaaaaeeeeeaeeeaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaeeeeaeeaeaeaeeeaecccch" only longer. So much longer. Words cannot convey the sort of noise that he was emitting.  "Enough Noah!" Nikala says.  "yeeaaaaaaaaeeeeeaeeeaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaeeeeaeeaeaeaeeeaecccch" responds Noah "Noah that is enough. You are upsetting Ellie!" Repeats Nikala, trying again. "yeeaaaaaaaaeeeeeaeeeaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaeeeeaeeaeaeaeeeaecccch" "Right, if you don't stop making that noise I am going to take away your fire engine!"  Oh dear, I think to myself, we've reached that bad stage of ne...

One of Noah's favourite games at the moment is Hide and Seek. Mostly his hiding places involve lying face down on the sofa with a cushion over his head, his bum and legs clearly marking his location. But if for some reason that wasn't enough for me to find him, his giggling would certainly give him away anyway. "Daddy... Daaaaaddddy! Hiding daddy!" Giggles. Of course I play up to it for effect: "Well, I cant find Noah anywhere..." barely suppressed giggling ensues... "phew this is hard work, I think I will sit on the sofa for a bit and have a rest while I think..." More giggling. "Gosh this is a lumpy sofa, and why is it making so much noise?" Giggling. "hang on a moment, this sofa has a bottom!" The giggles escalate to full laughter and wriggling. "Hey! It's not a sofa its Noah!" Even from the very beginning I have been impressed with his patience though. He would stay in his "hiding place" for a ver...