Christmas Round-up 2007

Christmas Eve

In the run-up to Christmas we told Oliver we would put out a carrot for Rudolph and a mince pie and glass of whisky for Father Christmas. (The politically correct glass of water that seems to have been proposed by playgroups and/or nursery was never going to be an option. He drank whisky when I was a lad and I have heard nothing of him going tee-total.) Oliver even insisted on me taking a detour to Somerfield to buy the carrot in readiness. So he was an eager participant when we laid out our offerings on Christmas Eve.

Oliver showed no interest in looking out of the window to see whether he could see Father Christmas and Rudoph in the sky. He just wanted his bedtime milk. Once he was asleep I crept into his room and removed the Christmas stocking we had placed there together earlier. I filled it with a few presents, some lollipops and a tangerine before creeping back in and placing it back at the end of his bed. It was a delightful experience. Hopefully the first of many times to come.

Christmas Day

On Christmas morning Oliver had to be reminded that it was Christmas and that he had a stocking of presents at the foot of his bed. We took it into our bedroom and all four of us sat on the bed and opened the first present. It was a Shrek and Donkey filled with bath foam, but Shrek's head was missing! Later we found it and there appears to have been no long-term psychological damage.

Much of Christmas morning was passed with Oliver singing along to Wizzard and other Christmas songs that were being served up by VH1 music channel.

Oliver and Hayley had great fun making the stuffing balls for dinner.

At Christmas dinner, Oliver reminded us that it was Jesus' birthday and then proceeded to say the prayer he knows from Kids on SUnday. "Jesus friend of little children, be friend to me, take my hand and ever keep me, close to thee." He then told us we should sing Happy Birthday.

Lucy was included at our Christmas dinner with a nice bottle of milk, though she seemed intent on something stronger.

After dinner, everyone collapsed in front of the TV. Mummy and Daddy cuddled up on the sofa...



...while Oliver napped beside us and Lucy napped in an armchair.

Later in the afternoon we visited our friend Lisete where we drank wine, snacked and chatted while her daughters entertained Oliver. They entertained him so well in fact that he was not at all keen to come home two hours later when Hayley and I were ready to leave.

Boxing Day

Boxing Day was spent up at my Mum's house. Oliver was most entertained by my Dad magically changing his expression by wiping his hand across his face, a trick he used to entertain me with when I was Oliver's age.



Meanwhile Lucy explored the possibilities of a career as a concert pianist.

Bits and bobs

Dad in charge
Last night Hayley went to watch a play in which a friend of ours was acting. So for the first time I was home alone with both kids when Oliver had to go to bed. The moment Hayley headed out of the door, Lucy filled her nappy, just as I wanted to get the last bit of her bottle down her. No sooner had I changed her than Oliver followed suit. By the time I had changed him and fed her we were late going upstairs.

Normally Oliver has his milk in his room on the little futon sofa-bed with the lights out and just a night-light on. Last night we sat in our bedroom with Lucy lying under a Winnie the Pooh mobile. Obviously Oliver had to play with it and managed to knock it over, narrowly missing Lucy in the process. Despite this disruption to his routine he went to bed without complaint.

There's a new part to his routine now that Hayley has added. After his milk he climbs up to stand on her legs and she gives him a back-scratch. I did the same last night and he loved it. Later I could hear him on the monitor quietly whimpering "Mummy". When I went up to see him he recovered his composure remarkably quickly and when I reached into his cot to settle him down he grabbed my hand, pulled it behind his back and said "back-scratch"!

The little lady refused to have a nap during the evening, fighting sleep wherever and whenever I tried to lay her down, until finally I picked her up and lay her on my chest. Having got what she wanted, she fell straight asleep. So I watched the first half of Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares lying on the sofa with her on my chest. Bliss!

Later, after she woke, I took her upstairs and she had her last bottle of the day sitting on our bed, as usual. Hayley got home from her play (which she had thoroughly enjoyed) just in time to give her little girl some milk and a cuddle before she went to sleep.

If you're gonna do it, do it right
When Hayley went to pick up Oliver from nursery the other day she waited in the hall, listening to the activities coming to a close. She could hear the children singing. Well, more precisely she could hear Oliver singing over the top of all the other children. After the session she discovered that Oliver had spent the morning telling everyone which songs to sing and reprimanding them when they got the verses in the wrong order. I know this will have been true because he does it to me often. It seems the horn on the bus has to go beep beep beep before the baby on the bus cries. "No Daddy, we haven't had horn yet!"

Talking of reprimanding his parents, today at a playgroup his Mummy made the mistake of doing a wiggly-hipped dance when everyone was doing the hokey-cokey. "No Mummy" he shouted "don't do that", pointing a reproachful finger at her.

Little sweetie
This morning as I got dressed Oliver came to me and showed me a sweetie. Where did you get that Oliver?", asked Daddy, genuinely surprised that he found a sweet somewhere upstairs.
No answer from the little man.
"Can you show me where you got it?"
Silence.
"Daddy would like one Oliver, do you think you could show me where they are?".
"Oh, OK Daddy. I'll show you. This way Daddy." And he lead me to our bedroom where he then took a packet of boiled sweets from next to the bed. "I get it for you" he told me. taking one out in its wrapper, then starting to unwrap it. After fiddling for a few seconds with the tricky wrapper he said "here you go" and gave it to me. As he wlaked away with his own sweet he mused, "I like sweeties" before leaving it on the bed.

Love is...
Tonight Oliver had a bath with Lucy. He shared his bath happily and even poured water gently over her tummy. I can't get over what a loving big brother he is. He is full of love for his parents too, but recently there has been a noticeable pattern.
"Can I watch telly Daddy?"
"No Oliver you know we don't watch telly before breakfast."
Oliver gives me a big hug, pats my back saying "cuddle". He then steps away and says "I watch telly now Daddy?" Hmmmmmm.

Perfect skin
Lucy is all smiles again after getting over her illness. She decided to get up at 5.50am this morning which wasn't very welcome but hopefully it was a one-off. She has gorgeous skin now, a marked contrast with a few weeks ago when she seemed to have more little spots than a teenager. Someone at playgroup today commented "I've never seen a baby with such perfect skin." My china doll.

Visiting our new nephew ("no name")

My sister gave birth to a baby boy on the 9th November. Thanks to the visiting rule at the hospital where he was born (no children on the ward) we had our first chance to meet him over the weekend. So today Saturday we headed off to Dalton.

Hayley and I vividly recall from our early days with Oliver how tough the first few weeks can be and how relieved and grateful we were when our midwife Jane came to our rescue. So we tried to give a lift on Saturday. Hayley took Julia to get some shopping done while Rob and and I took Oliver, Tom and the new arrival for a walk. I say "the new arrival" because they still haven't decided on a name for him. "No name" was how he was most often addressed during our visit.

We drove up to the Beacon at the top of the hill, disembarked from the car and then had a 10 minute battle with the buggy. Finally we set off up the hill. I told Oliver we were going to see a castle. He liked this idea and seemed content with the overgrown obelisk he encountered on arrival. It was quite a hill for the little man but he trudged up it without complaint.

After taking a few snaps and kicking a football around for 20 minutes or so, "no name" started to stir so we headed back down off the hill... to the pub. We enjoyed a couple of drinks and a game of pool during our stay. Rob fed "no name" and I had the pleasure of changing Oliver's dirty nappy on the floor of the pool room while he sang nursery rhymes at the top of his voice. In fact he was in good voice much of the time, singing at a volume around 90 decibels louder then the other conversations in the pub. No-one objected though, probably afeared of this strange bunch of "men" of all ages.

When we got back to Julia's house, Hayley set about making dinner. She worked til she was sweating in the kitchen and served us all a fabulous spag bol with garlic bread and cakes for dessert.

By the time we left Julia was tired but grateful for all Hayley's efforts. "She's amazing" she told me.
"I know".