I'm writing this intro from the floor of my toddler's bedroom. He's sort of asleep, but not quite. I'm safe to have my phone switched on, but it's not yet time to sneak out of the room. I know this because I have been doing it every night for the last three months. Since we ...
Arriving home from work one evening last week, I realised that there was a big, weetabixy handprint encrusted on the back of my trousers. Just about toddler-hug height. There since before I left the house at 7am; visible all day at work. Morto, as they say. Oh well, no time to sit around hand-wringing; there was ...
"How was your day?" What do you reply? I guess it depends who asks. If it's Facebook, your day might look great. If it's your other-half, you might be very tired. If it's a friend, it might depend on the context. If she had a bad day, you might commiserate with your own low points. If ...
Two weeks ago, Sam tried to climb out of the cot, so we ordered a bed. The bed quickly became the touchstone for all our dreams of finally getting some sleep. We had only seen it in a picture on the internet but nevertheless, we pinned our hopes on this bed; It attained god-like status, with ...
Today's newspaper was already on the mat when I arrived home last night, or rather this morning, just after 3am. I felt a surge of The Fear when I saw it there, reminiscent of the feeling I used to get fifteen years ago, arriving home from impromptu Wednesday beers and realising that there weren't a ...
So. Baby. It's time to chat. Well, you're not a baby, and that's sort of the point. You're two years, one month and one week old, and it's two years, one month and one week since I last had proper sleep. Yes, yes, I know there was that month before Christmas - believe me, I think ...
"Take the path of least resistance" was the wise advice from Fiona Kennedy in this week's blog interview. This is certainly the path we took in our house this morning, which is how the two-year-old ended up in our bed at 5.15am watching Mickey Mouse on YouTube. If I'd had chocolate to hand, he'd have had ...
Bedtime doesn't happen as early as it should in our house. Well, the kids usually come down looking for a glass of water or to say they can't sleep, but actually they're not so bad when the initial "OK time for bed" announcement is made - they're usually fairly acquiescent heading up the stairs. It's the grown-ups ...
As I checked on my almost-two-year old last night, I covered him with a very specific blanket and placed a spare soother right beside his hand. I closed the door rather than leaving it ajar as we usually do. He was wearing two-piece-pyjamas instead of a one-piece sleepsuit, and he had eaten no cheese yesterday. This careful routine ...
Lots of people are worrying about the clocks going back and babies waking early, Here's my take on it: My baby wakes around 6am - he will wake at 6am tomorrow morning, though it will be considered to be 5am due to Daylight Savings. So I'm not going to change my clock back tonight. When he wakes at ...