My wife went away last weekend for a well deserved break with the girls. That left me and my daughter on our own together. One supposedly responsible adult and one minor. This is the first time since she was a baby that I’ve been left on my own with her for an overnight but what could go wrong? Well thankfully nothing did go wrong if you ignore the dress sense I have for my child (luckily she has no ego to speak of that I am aware of). My wife was horrified to see what I had made the poor girl wear when she picked her up from creche yesterday afternoon on her return. She keeps telling me I have no sense of style so she only had herself to blame for the state of her child’s dress. As long as she’s dressed then she’s fine as far as I’m concerned. I don’t recognise style or fashion when I see it I’m afraid.
The notable event of the weekend was an absolutely epic tantrum. Not me mind but my daughter. I can have tantrums, they are rare but they do happen, but the style with which my daughter approached and carried hers out was to be admired. It all happened at feeding time. She just didn’t want to know. I tried every known trick in the book to get her to eat until eventually she just snapped. She was banging her fists on the table, her face went red and then she let out such an angry scream I almost took a step back. Our strategy for dealing with tantrums has always been to ignore them so that’s what I did. This continued for about a minute until eventually she stopped and we stared at each other. She had the good grace to smile at that point and the worst was over. She still wouldn’t eat for me but thankfully normal service resumed and all was well and we were friends again..
Are we hitting the terrible two’s 9 months early? If we are I hope she gets over it soon and the twos will be plain sailing. I suspect not.
Monday, 28 November 2011
Monday, 21 November 2011
Puppy or child?
Thanks for your comments Melbourne Man. Nice to see I have an international audience. On swimming – yes I think we’ll try again but I’ll let her forget her last experience first. She's now afraid of the bath as well...
You raised an important question about whether the decision (I could have used commitment here but I think there’s a difference - making the decision is wholly different from realising what you’ve committed to and the former comes way before your realise the latter!) to have a child outweighs the other needs in our lives that consume our time and money. What do I get out of it and is it worth it? That’s difficult to define and I’m not going to try. I guess you’ll know yourself if you make that decision and go down that road. The only thing I’ll say is that yes it is worth it. I still refuse to let go of all the things I enjoy just because I have a child. I still enjoy these things, only less often, and eventually I hope my daughter will enjoy them to. Things are just different. I have to plan more, I have less money and time and I always need more sleep. I’m not expecting that to change anytime soon.
Why can't you have a puppy and a child and the odd international adventure? I reckon you can.
You raised an important question about whether the decision (I could have used commitment here but I think there’s a difference - making the decision is wholly different from realising what you’ve committed to and the former comes way before your realise the latter!) to have a child outweighs the other needs in our lives that consume our time and money. What do I get out of it and is it worth it? That’s difficult to define and I’m not going to try. I guess you’ll know yourself if you make that decision and go down that road. The only thing I’ll say is that yes it is worth it. I still refuse to let go of all the things I enjoy just because I have a child. I still enjoy these things, only less often, and eventually I hope my daughter will enjoy them to. Things are just different. I have to plan more, I have less money and time and I always need more sleep. I’m not expecting that to change anytime soon.
Why can't you have a puppy and a child and the odd international adventure? I reckon you can.
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Swimming Into Trouble
I know what we'll do today, we'll bring the family swimming. Me and the wife and our darling, chilled out, lovely natured daughter. Swimming. What a great thought. She'll love it. We'll all love it. Bring her to the pool, introduce her to the water, I'll show her how it's done. We'll make it a regular thing...
Yeah right..
Started off great. Got the water proof nappy on on. Got the swim suit on her. She looked very cute. I walked her into to the pool area and I noticed the first signs of tension from her. She was walking very slowly and looking nervously at the pristine water to her left. Not a ripple from the water as we were the first in this morning. She stopped and looked up at me with pleading eyes. I could see her thinking "Don't do this dad! I love you and you love me. Why would you even think of doing this?".
Wifey had gone in just before us to pave the way. As I neared the steps into pool she stopped. She looked at me again, then her mum then the water. "No chance I'm going in there!" I could hear her eyes screaming..
I lifted her and gently walked into the pool, down the shallow steps. All was silent. Silent until the moment her feet touched the tepid water. The blood curdling scream that emanated from her mouth cooled the water by a couple of degrees I'm sure. She was inconsolable. For the next 10 minutes we tried everything to get her to enjoy what was meant to be our new regular thing, something we could all do together. I tried the arm bands, various blow up things and the fish float. I don't think she'll ever forgive me for the fish float!
Never mind my daugher, I think i'm traumatised. I think swimming's off the agenda for now. Off to the zoo I think next week.
Yeah right..
Started off great. Got the water proof nappy on on. Got the swim suit on her. She looked very cute. I walked her into to the pool area and I noticed the first signs of tension from her. She was walking very slowly and looking nervously at the pristine water to her left. Not a ripple from the water as we were the first in this morning. She stopped and looked up at me with pleading eyes. I could see her thinking "Don't do this dad! I love you and you love me. Why would you even think of doing this?".
Wifey had gone in just before us to pave the way. As I neared the steps into pool she stopped. She looked at me again, then her mum then the water. "No chance I'm going in there!" I could hear her eyes screaming..
I lifted her and gently walked into the pool, down the shallow steps. All was silent. Silent until the moment her feet touched the tepid water. The blood curdling scream that emanated from her mouth cooled the water by a couple of degrees I'm sure. She was inconsolable. For the next 10 minutes we tried everything to get her to enjoy what was meant to be our new regular thing, something we could all do together. I tried the arm bands, various blow up things and the fish float. I don't think she'll ever forgive me for the fish float!
Never mind my daugher, I think i'm traumatised. I think swimming's off the agenda for now. Off to the zoo I think next week.
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Reflections and Memories
I have my first feedback this week which is exciting. People are actually reading this blog which is a relief. Some interesting comments from War and Smiris (thank you!) which prompted some thought on my part.
Smiris made the comment about how I’m going to have some wonderful memories. I have some amazing memories of the last 15 months already although some of it seems as if it happened to someone else. It used to feel like one long sleepless night but now I can reflect a little and remember those little moments of my new family history. This blog is something that I can show my daughter when she grows up. My wife has kept a dairy since our daughter was born and I always recognised the potential importance of that if we had another child but I never really considered, until now, how this blog might serve a purpose later on. This could be something really valuable to show my daughter when she’s old enough. To teach her maybe a little about what she and I were like when she was a young child. This record of the last year will be hers to keep forever if she wants it.
I was in War’s place once. Thoughts of fatherhood never at the front. Made me think of all those books you’re supposed to read on fatherhood and the first year. I tried and failed to read these much to my wife’s annoyance. I think they’re all well intentioned but there’s nothing like just getting on with it. Most the time you learn but just doing and you learn not to worry about whether you’re doing things the right way.
Smiris made the comment about how I’m going to have some wonderful memories. I have some amazing memories of the last 15 months already although some of it seems as if it happened to someone else. It used to feel like one long sleepless night but now I can reflect a little and remember those little moments of my new family history. This blog is something that I can show my daughter when she grows up. My wife has kept a dairy since our daughter was born and I always recognised the potential importance of that if we had another child but I never really considered, until now, how this blog might serve a purpose later on. This could be something really valuable to show my daughter when she’s old enough. To teach her maybe a little about what she and I were like when she was a young child. This record of the last year will be hers to keep forever if she wants it.
I was in War’s place once. Thoughts of fatherhood never at the front. Made me think of all those books you’re supposed to read on fatherhood and the first year. I tried and failed to read these much to my wife’s annoyance. I think they’re all well intentioned but there’s nothing like just getting on with it. Most the time you learn but just doing and you learn not to worry about whether you’re doing things the right way.
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