Doing it for the kids

This year Father's Day started on Friday afternoon.

 

I went to Katie's nursery for a 4pm Father's Day tea.

 

Together we ate sausage rolls, sandwiches and various biscuits.

 

Katie gave me a card and a biscuit she had made.

 

 

 

On Sunday Katie gave me a book to help me draw pet animals better. I am currently rubbish at this activity if judged by the standards of the world's great artists (or anyone who can hold a pencil) but brilliant if judged by whether Katie can recognise what I've drawn no matter how badly I've drawn it. It wil be good to practise so that my efforts are more fish-like, cat-like, rabbit-like, dog-like and so on but I wouldn't expect an exhibition any time soon. You'll get the idea if I tell you that the book is aimed at key stage one, which is better known as ages to five to seven.

 

I also received a pile of 'new' children's books. They're new to us but have all been read before because I had bought them from charity shops this week. The point being that I had the time this week to buy them and wanted some different things to read with Katie. She has loads of books but she knows them all so well. And so do I.

 

We then went to a local soft play area and Katie knackered herself out playing. She was already quite tired as she is a bit off-colour at the moment and has a bit of a temperature.

 

After a lunchtime nap she came with us shopping and then we went to the local park.

 

A nice end to a nice day.

 

The previous day we had gone to a wedding celebration party hosted by two friends of ours. A couple of pics:

 

 

While at home today with her mum Katie took a mobile phone-shaped magnet off the fridge and spoke into it as though she was calling me.

 

"Hello daddy. You coming home later? Bye."

 

How sweet is that?

 

Happy dad.

We're back from a week's holiday in Cornwall.

 

We stayed at a converted farm (Glynn Barton) which had great facilities for children under five.

 

A soft play area:

...where you can get covered in balls:

 

Katie loved the pigs:


She fed the donkey:


And the sheep:

 

And we took trips to the beach:

 

And the aquarium:

It's alphabet recognition and word association time.

 

The other day Urs was wearing a t-shirt with lots of words on it.

 

One of the words was 'Walker'.

 

Katie pointed to the letter 'k' and said: "Katie."

My shirt, that is.

 

Katie's hair has taken a long time to grow but in the past few months it's been getting in the way of her eyes so Urs bravely took her to the hairdresser yesterday for her first ever haircut.

 

I am told Katie wriggled a lot and the hairdresser earned her tip.

 

Before: 

After:

I put Katie to bed the other night and as I was leaving the room and I said, as usual: "I love you Katie."

 

She replied, for the first time: "I love you daddy."

 

Aah.

Spent a nice Sunday afternoon in the park last week.

 

Small bribe to encourage Katie to leave the house vaguely calmly was an ice cream.

 

We had a picnic on Sunday at Knole, a National Trust Place in Kent.

 

Deer roam the park.

 

They like to come near when you're having your picnic.

 

 

 

And Katie likes to follow them up to the top of the hill:

 

 

Which means, er, that I do too (thanks to Tony Cakeman for the pic):

 

 

 

One of Katie's cousins isn't a big fan of girls. And he hasn't been Katie's biggest fan because they share the same birthday.

 

So there he was last weekend with his new Nintendo DSi showing how he could take photos with it.

 

He took one of Katie. I didn't expect it to stay too long before being deleted.

 

And now we hear he has been showing the pic to his friends saying: "That's my half-sister." He, he.

 

When reminded that she isn't his half-sister he replied: "Well, we share the same birthday."

 

Sweet.

I recently test drove a Saab for an MSN Cars review I am writing.

 

Katie loves cars.

 

And this one was no exception.

 

A day or two before I had to return the car she went up to it and insisted we drove in it rather than walked. We were about to walk a couple of hundred yards so she didn't get her wish.

 

"My car, my car," she insisted.

 

I hereby confirm Saab still owns that car as part of its press fleet and they came and picked it up this week. Sorry, Katie.

 

It's the little things that count.

 

1. I stub my toe, Katie runs over and gives me a hug

2. I'm half dressed, Katie sees me, grabs a spare t-shirt and gives it to me

3. I sneeze, Katie says: "Bless you, daddy."

 

Aah.

Most toddlers love splashing in puddles.

 

And Katie is no exception. If she sees a puddle she has to walk in it. Exceptions are not made/tolerated.

 

On the way home from nursery this week she happily walked back and forth in a big puddle in the park even though she didn't have her wellies on. Soggy feet but who cares when you get to walk in a big puddle?

 

 

 

At nursery they played at being hairdressers.

 

Katie ended up with her first pony tail, which she has continued to enjoy all weekend.

 

We've never cut her hair, by the way, though it now needs a trim as bit of her fringe come down over her eyes.

 

 

What do you do if you can't make a living from farming alone?

 

Turn it into a B&B, as some have done, or open it to the public, as some others have done.

 

We visited one such place yesterday.

 

The best bit is feeding the animals yourself. It's good for the farmer as you buy the feed when you go in and you do the feeding. It's good fun for you as little lambs eat from your hand. And presumably it's good for the lambs too, although they still need their milk as well.

 

We had had a go at this last September on holiday and this time Katie was still nervous but not quite as much.

 

Remember to wash your hands after!

 

We had a fun day but Katie did fall over and hurt herself. On the odd occasion when she falls over she shoots her arms out in time to pad her fall but somehow this time she wasn't quick enough when she tripped and she hit her face on the hard ground. She chipped a front tooth, her lip is swollen and her cheek grazed. Ouch.

 

Not the farm's fault, by the way, in case an accident lawyer is hoping we want to sue.

 

Katie was upset for a bit but then perked up again as she usually does.

 

PS

I chipped a tooth 18 months ago by eating a mint imperial.

Well, actually, too small for my boots.

 

Katie decided to try on my walking boots.

 

You'd expect Katie to have all her teeth through by now.

 

But she doesn't.

 

There are still about four more on top and bottom to come through.

 

And it doesn't look like they're going to make it any time soon, although she gets some pain from time to time.

Sneeze and Katie will say: "Bless you daddy."

 

Very sweet.

 

Cough a lot and Katie will say the same thing.

Here's how a typical breakfast goes at the moment.

 

There's no such thing as a typical breakfast.

 

Katie likes porridge and will happily eat it with a few healthy raisins added on top.

 

Except when she doesn't want to eat it any more.

 

Which is where we are right now.

 

Then she'll have Weetabix.

 

And if daddy sits by her eating his Weetabix then it's one spoonful for Katie and one for daddy until we've finished.

 

That works really well and is a pleasure.

 

Except when she decides she's had enough before she's finished her bowl.

 

Or when she says she doesn't want Weetabix.

 

So you move on to toast.

 

That's always a winner.

 

Except during that time when she didn't want it, obviously.

 

And now it helps if you call it Tubby Toast.

 

Even though it's exactly the same.

 

And she'll have butter on the toast and she'll tell you by saying: "Butter, butter, butter."

 

Over and over.

 

So you put some butter on it and she'll happily munch away like the sweetest, cutest, most content toddler in the world.

 

Except when she might just lick the butter off the toast rather than munch the toast.

 

Which can happen from time to time.

 

Except when she would like jam as well.

 

And she'll tell you by saying: "Jam, jam, jam."

 

 

Katie recently moved from the baby care nursery to the pre-school nursery.

 

A big step for one so small.

 

And quite a change but she seems to be enjoying it and it certainly tires her out.

 

Before she moved up we had a visit to it, Urs and I taking Katie up from the baby nursery for a while. We were supposed to stay for only an hour but just as it was time to go Katie spied lunch arriving and sat herself down at the table in front of a plate and cutlery with the other children. Rather sheepishly we asked if it was OK if she stayed for lunch, which it was.

 

That's my girl .

Photos from a recent trip to the park undertaken by Katie and me.

 

 

 

 

Urs and I often take Katie to the park separately at weekends so the other one can rest or get things done.

 

On Sunday we all went together.

 

We bumped into two mums from our NCT group.

 

And we had fun.

 

 

 

Katie can count to 20.

 

Assuming you don't mind 14 being missed out.

 

And 11 sounds like "yellow" to me.

 

But let's not get picky. It's all happened so quickly.

I've mentioned this before but it's worth an update.

 

For the past two months I've been to a toddler group where dads take their little ones along.

 

It's once a month. Next one is March 28 at 10am.

 

Last month 14 of us went.

 

I'm the only dad who doesn't wear blue denim jeans, it seems, but that's OK.

 

Dads are tempted along by the lure of nice bacon sandwiches and a cup of coffee. The kids like the stuff to play with and get to run around a church hall.

 

All good fun.

 

Any chance of seeing some more dads next time? There's no churchy element to it, if that reassures you.

 

 Lots of fun things to play with:

 

 

Including toy toast:

 

 

And here's what you get once it's over: