Snow is falling

Winter is (mostly) upon us.

I’ve finally realised that this is a parenting blog. I’m not for a moment suggesting that I or my wife are model parents, nor should you infer from my modesty that we are poor parents. Instead I think we are interesting parents. We love our daughter and we have another on the way (a baby, not necessarily a girl although my hunch is that it’s a boy). I’m aiming to have quite a large family, read double figures, and at the moment my wife isn’t complaining so it may actually happen.

Ninette will be nine months old this Friday. It’s staggering to review the new experiences that she has accumulated during this short period of time. Although I suppose for her it’s been a lifetime. Hur Hur. She now has three teeth and although she can’t do it for long, she stood independently for a few seconds yesterday and so crossed from baby to toddler. As someone who collects miniatures necessarily composed of many hundreds of small pieces this is something of a dificult time. Her reach has instantly raised from about 20-25cm to 50-60 cms. Where last week I was concerned only with keeping the floors of our home free from any kind of debris I am now clearing shelves, tidying surfaces and trying to work out what can be pulled down or pulled over.

It’s a big list. Some of it is electrical and those accidents just aren’t funny.

Also this week my parents are staying with us while Nicole makes an experimental foray back into the world of work. It didn’t start too well as my mother, devastated to leave her youngest son alone in the chilly North tripped over a kerb and both she and Ninette had a chat with the tarmac. I think my mother came off worse as she has bruised both of her legs and the bridge of her glasses has neatly removed a small piece of flesh from the crest of her nose. I shan’t be posting pictures of that.

Ninette got off lightly, she’s bumped her head and bitten her lip. As childhood injuries go, not too bad. Of course that goes nowhere near far enough to describe the terror I experienced when my father called me at work and opened with the words. “You should know first of all that Ninette is essentially OK.” For those of you who are grandparents and think that saying this sort of thing is a good idea. Don’t make the call.

 

Finally, to lighten the mood, let’s end with a giggle.