He might be a veggie

I think I may have a vegetarian for a son. He wont eat meat, fish or anything like that if it is on his plate. But he would gladly down a tub of humus and some pitta bread 

Photographic memory

On the way to the store today T spotted a cat sitting in a flat's window. To my amazement he stopped in front of the same window on the way back and pointed out that the cat was gone. He is like an elephant that never forgets!

On the tourist trail

The best part of having a visitor in town is T also gets to visit the sites as well while I am showing our guests around.

Daddy knows best

I love it when I'm telling T to do something and while he is busy saying no, something/someone arrives on the scene and suddenly he realizes he should listen to me. Case in point; today I went with him to St James's Park and kept telling him to give me his bag of crisps and he absolutely refused kicking and rocking in his stroller. Soon as we entered the park, he was accosted by some geese, gulls, pigeons and a pair of pelicans, all demanding a share of the crisps. Guess what happened???

Stencil and Scratch

I need to go out and get some more of this. It was a great way to keep him focused and occupied while I completed some errands around the house.

Thanks Uncle and Auntie K

T absolutely loved this Apple croissant his Uncle K and Auntie K from downstairs brought back on their trip to Calais over the weekend. It took him about a minute to eat a whole one and after every bite, he looked up at me and went 'mmm yum yum'. Thank you Uncle K & Auntie K!

T goes to Abbey Road

I shall be keeping my fingers crossed one day he is as famous and as successful (at what he does) as the fab four that once crossed this road at this same spot

Italian souvenir

Here is the little piece of Italy that I brought back for T complete with a face cap which is not pictured. La mia bello bambino, he wears it very well. The funny bit was when I put this on him, he came running straight into the living room and started kicking his inflated soccer ball around like a professional footballer.

Aussie Open tennis Final

No point saying who he is rooting for...

What's Dad's is His!

T has already hijacked my morning yogurt so I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to eat my tub of Kellys clotted cream with strawberries ice cream in front of him after dinner. I didn't stand a chance!

Thank heavens for technology

I haven't been blogging as much lately because we have a close friend visiting from abroad and my time is being spent ensuring her comfort and entertainment. As a result I traveled to Rome for a few days last week  and though I had a great time, I also missed T so much. Luckily these days technology has made the world a smaller place and being away doesn't literally translate to being completely away. I guess what I am trying to say is the moments I spent talking to T on Skype were the best moments of my short time away.

His first walk in the snow

T took his first steps in the snow today and it was an absolute delight watching him run around kicking and chucking the white stuff about. It was not all rosy though; while we were out, it started snowing and it was a little blustery too. With the snow floating in the air and blowing all about, some blew into his face and in his eyes and he started to freak out. I guess snowy weather takes a little getting used to.

Snow chaos

It's snowing in the UK and everything is going belly-up. Flights are getting cancelled, people are being told not to travel and I can't reach T's playgroup on the phone to confirm if it is going ahead or not so we are not going. Weeks of warning and still the snow always catches us by surprise... so Typical!

Mean Londoners

Forget what anyone has ever said about Londoners being friendly and considerate to people with kids because that has never been my experience. Instead of the typical things you hear; like people helping to lift the stroller up stairs, moving out of the way on the bus or pavements  and holding doors when you are coming through, all I get is people avoiding my gaze or pretending they hadn't noticed me when it is clear they had. Okay maybe once in a while I run into a nice considerate person but ninety percent of the time what I have described above is accurate; women are the worst at it too. Sometimes I think it is because I am male and people consider me capable without needing any help? I wonder what the female's experience is!

London Underground gets a thump down

Just when I thought London Underground could not hit a new low, I had to wait fifty minutes and watched as ten trains passed me by with not one with space to conveniently fit T and myself this morning. It seems rather puzzling that year after year tube fares go up but the service seems to be going the other way. If I had to describe my experience this morning, I would say it was a wretched worthless service.

Snow shower

Not a lot happened today! I did a thorough cleaning of the flat as we are expecting a guest from the States and T kept himself busy by staring out of the window at the snowflakes falling outside. I wonder what he was thinking. Going out to build a snowman? When the snow sticks baby... when it sticks!

The New Normal

Just watched the first episode of ‘The New Normal’ which we recorded via E4 on Sky + and I am totally digging it. I won’t go into details of the plot in case I go and ruin it for anyone, let's just say its based around challenging the notion of what a normal family is. If you can, try and watch an episode; it is terrifically entertaining and crazy hilarious!

A loaded question

On Friday I went out to lunch with a friend and she asked me one of those typically simple but loaded questions I am still debating if I gave the right answer or not.
Oh you have changed so much now, she gushed as she watched me fussing over T.
Thanks, I responded basking in all the admiration.

‘So would you say he has brought you and your partner even closer together’, she asked as she took another sip from her cup filled with green tea.

-Pause-

How do I answer this without falling victim to one of those infamous George Bush-type gaffes? I wondered. Do I lie and say no, my partner and I now live in Pleasantville and we don’t bicker at all; everything is all rosy? Or should I admit how we are at each other’s throat about the other’s approach and how T has started playing us one for the other good cop, bad cop style?

Oh I dunno! We bicker like every other couple but the reasons why we bicker these days are different, I answered. We don’t bicker more and we don’t bicker less; just the dimension of our bickering has changed. Now instead of me and you, it is me, you and him! Sort of like being in an intense love triangle with willing participants. If you have ever been in one of those, you will understand.

She looked at me as if she was slightly confused.

You have never been in an intense love triangle then? I asked.

She nodded and moved on to something else.

His first letters and numbers

This Letter Factory is a God send! It was given to T by his cousins for Christmas and he has played with it every day since. To my amazement today, he starting picking up and identifying some letters. His first was O! Then A, then B and then E! Just as I was still recovering from what I had just witnessed, he uttered the words, one, two, and six. I am so proud!

Let it snow

All this talk by the media about the “Beast from the East” and the snow chaos without the real thing actually materializing is starting to get on my nerves. Can it just hurry up and snow please (and I mean lots) because I wanna take my little one out in the snow, build a snowman and snow fight.

Awww… My little Einstein wants to be like his daddy

People often express shock when I tell them T has been sitting on the potty potty training since he was sixteen months. I didn't do anything special to make him; he picked up his potty one morning, set it down in front of a mirror, sat on it and starting mumbling- pee pee. Not one to miss an opportunity, I quickly made it part of his bath routine and every time he sat on his potty I went and sat opposite him on the toilet too. It was all going so well until yesterday when to my shock he absolutely refused to sit on his potty, not even when I placed it in his favorite place, in front of the mirror. Instead he kept pointing towards the direction of the toilet. Getting a little frustrated because I was running very late to take him out, I skipped the potty and moved on to his bath.
This morning while I was taking a well-earned break from toddler duty on the sofa, my partner came in and told me that when T was told to go sit on his potty, he simply walked past it, went to the toilet and requested to be sat on it. It made sense immediately. T has made a correlation between his potty and the toilet and just like he wants to be like his daddy in every other aspect, this wasn't going to be different- he has to go like daddy goes! It means for me,  I will either have to go and buy myself an adult potty or start sitting him on the toilet (just like I do )from now onward.

His first art exhibition

Family portrait

Spectrum

Happy Thanksgiving

Elmo goes to Trinidad

Happy Diwali

Autumn leaves

Winter days

Winter days, winter days

The nights are long and the Sun is never out to play

Winter days, winter days

The park is deserted and my dad won’t let me out unto the grass to play.

Winter days, winter days

Will you please hurry up and let the summer Sun come out to play

Sk8er Boi

Zoom, zoom… Beep, beep… Vroom, vroom! Clear the sidewalk, coming through and all padded up... Nice!!!

Breakthrough

Credit to my partner in parenthood for finally succeeding to get the young man to eat his fried eggs at breakfast this morning after months of trying. The trick was to call the eggs quiche because t loves quiches big time.  He fell for it and gobbled the eggs up till there was nothing left. Next step: devise how to make him eat boiled eggs.

Baby Harness

There is this man that walks past our house once often with his daughter walking ahead in a harness. Every time I spot him going by I am baffled by how he does it. I am not anti-harness per say, I just don’t think they are for everyone especially not me. When we had T’s baby shower, a dear friend gave us a harness as a gift and I remember thinking wow, I can't wait to use it. My first opportunity to do so came when I went to meet a friend at the park. Soon as I popped T in the harness, he started acting up, screaming, kicking and walking around in circles. Not one to give up easily I persevered until he almost ended up in a pond. That pretty much put an end to the first trial and the harness didn't get to see daylight for some time.  Months later, I was going through T’s nappy bag when I once again stumbled on the harness. I was going to the shops so I thought great let’s try this again. This time he was a little settled other than the walking in circles issue. My biggest obstacle though was the uneven slabs of concrete that made up the sidewalk and the amount of dog poo that littered them. With every step T almost took a tumble. Keep going, I kept encouraging until he stepped on a wobbly broken slab and fell face flat down. To make matters worse his hands ended up in a patch that looked like dog poo that had just been washed off by rain. That was it. I bade goodbye to the harness and have never used it ever since. To be honest I don’t miss it because of its strange functionality.

The other day T and I were in the park and another toddler came whizzing by pushing a Vitech baby stroller. T was quite intrigued by it so I asked the toddler’s Mum if he could have a quick go. He was absolutely thrilled and loved every minute pushing it around. Consequently I guess if I had to do the whole walk training with another baby again I will be getting one of those Vitech baby strollers instead of a harness

Leg Warmers

With the over-hyped cold front termed ‘the Beast from the East’ by the UK media bearing rapdily on us, I rely on these cute leg warmers to keep T protected against the cold. They do not only keep him warm and cozy, they keep him looking bang on trend and very stylish too. They come in six different colours and design themes and are available for purchase at various online retailers

Let’s talk about this Government's approach to adoption

The UK government recently unveiled the Adoption map of the UK and I am confused by it's point really. With all the talk about speeding up adoption how is this going to help? What adoption needs is the abolition of all the red tape, better funding and dedicated resources, not some colour coded map devised by graduates locked up in an office. Anyway if you are interested in the map, it is available here: http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/n/map08c_alt3.pdf 

Paloma Faith

The best thing about children is they don’t mince words and they can be brutally honest. Ask an adult what they think of your spanking new shoes and they will probably say it’s cute with your blue jeans but next time pair it with black corduroys. Ask a child and he/she would probably say it’s hideous and you are wearing it with the wrong clothes. So when Paloma Faith was pictured on TV this morning looking a little interesting with some fluffy thing on her head at last night’s Brits awards nominations ceremony, I turned to T for an honest critique. Wow look who’s on TV, I said. He turned around, mouth stuffed with bread, honey dripping from his lips and announced loudly; woof, woof! So there you have it, according to T, Paloma Faith went to the ceremony as a fluffy poodle

My all speaking and singing alarm

When he wakes, he goes ‘heyyyyy’ like our neighbor does when he runs into her. He then breaks into song singing about his lovely parents. I could learn a thing or two from him. He hardly ever wakes up miserable!

We just met a weirdo in the supermarket

There are some strange people in the this world. I just popped into the supermarket with T to pick up some groceries and there was a lady with a crying child in a stroller right behind us. As kids sometimes do, when the other child howled T answered with a playful howl of his own. As we made our way through the supermarket, the lady went to another aisle but her child was still very much audible. As I was reaching to grab an item, her child let out a loud howl and T answered with one of his own. Instantly a middle-aged man standing across the aisle from us suddenly stopped, plugged his ears with his fingers, gave T a dirty look, swore and walked off. I was so bemused by his over the top reaction I wanted to chase after him and tell T to keep howling... weirdo!

Hair Moisturizer heaven

Finding the right products to use on one’s baby can be a bit of a nightmare so when you stumble upon that one that actually works a treat, it is a huge relief. For T’s hair, I love African Pride Shea Butter Miracle Bouncy Curls Pudding. It is easy to work with and always leaves his curls tight and bouncy with no slickly residue.

Using your imagination sure rocks

I remember when I was young and had no toys and I used to use my imagination to make up toys or add new dimensions to the toys I made to keep myself entertained. So these days I find it rather amazing that we spend a fortune filling our houses with expensive toy after toy for our kids stifling their imaginative abilities in the process? I am guilty of it. I used to fill T’s bath with lots of soft ducks and all the likes only to see him flick them out one by one, grab the empty shampoo bottle and start playing with it while giggling away. It made me think of all the other ways he could be expressing himself imaginatively had I not crammed two crates full of noisy electronic battery consuming toys that he hardly ever plays with under the chairs in the living room.

Now I am certainly not Martha Stewart but these days instead of buying expensive toy after toy, donating my money to China and ToysRUs, I often rely on my childhood experience to cook up cheap and cheerful ideas. For instance T was really into his shaker at his playgroup today so afterwards I took him to the shop and we brought a pack of 6 giant balloons for a less than a pound. When we got home I dropped a few grains of rice and lentils into the balloon for the extra sound effect, tied it and... voila we had a shaker for the fraction of the price we would have paid for one in the shop. He is running around playing excitedly with it now <you can hear him screaming with delight in the video below>. The added bonus is this shaker not only makes acoustic noise, he can find lots of imaginative was to play with it- bounce, throw, kick, box, pound it against furniture- without fear of injury or damage unlike a real sturdy shaker.

Feedback be it good or bad should always be acknowledged

Every parent wants a child they can be proud of and I certainly am not any different. In the time T has been in my life he has made me most proud and at certain times he has made me quite concerned; guess you gotta take the good with the bad. On the second occasion I took him to his twice monthly playgroup (one of the many he goes to), I got a phone call from the group leader immediately afterwards asking if I would be willing to see a language and speech therapist because she felt my son wasn't participating or paying enough attention to the group activities. Now I am very protective of those close to me and if I feel like you are attacking my child I may just have you for lunch so as soon as she started talking, my guard went up. Who is this lady and what gives her the right to think she can label my child when she doesn't have a clue who he is was all I could remember thinking. She ended the call by apologizing if she had offended me and I hung up feeling very annoyed at the negative feedback. That is the issue with feedback, when it is positive, it is welcome but when it is negative;oh no don't no one wanna hear it. After I had calmed down I knew I had to act. But first I had to confirm she was right. In the months afterwards I carried out my own observations noting how many times T followed orders and how many times he ignored them at his various playgroups. It turned out he wasn't completely disobedient, he was just fiercely independent and instead of carrying on with the group, as soon as he got his hand on the next item of play, he just wanted to go and do his own thing without input from anyone. Based on that I knew it was time I buckled up. I laid down the law; he either learns to play within the group and obeys the leader or we leave as soon as he starts misbehaving and he knows what was waiting at home when we got in- the naughty corner.

That was three months ago so when this morning we went to the playgroup and the group leader pulled me aside to talk about the amazing strides she felt T was making, I was pleasantly surprised. She told me I was doing a great job as he was the only kid in the group that was fully engaged and cooperative while being independent when he needed to be. He was singing when she said to. He sat when she said to. And as soon as each rhyme segment was over, he knew exactly to return his toy and wait for the next one. It made me extremely proud and glad I didn't disregard her original feedback

Bedtime equals tickle Elmo time

9pm and the young man has been in his crib an hour already. However instead of Zzzzz sounds, all I hear is Elmo laughing hysterically. Don't understand what I am talking about? See below
 

Get creative and make it fun

T was instantly repulsed the first time he came in contact with Play-Doh. Nothing would ever make him want to play with or touch it whenever he saw it. As fate would have it, he got Play-Doh in his Christmas stocking and I have been trying to get him to play with it ever since without much luck.

A few days ago I was on Youtube and stumbled on a Play-Doh video where a lady was using it to make a Christmas chain. Instantly I had a Eureka moment. I grabbed T's tubs of Play-Doh and made some colourful arm bands and neck-chains. He didn't need too much prompting to try them on and pose for a picture as soon as he saw them. Struggling with getting your toddler to try something? Get creative and make it fun!

Name change

The terrible twos has started in our household and no, no, no is the most spoken and heard word currently.

Me: Permission to change your name to "Destinys Child" son?

T: 'No, no, no' <with a diva-like head shake a la Beyonce>!

Yaaay... The first post!

Hello and welcome to our blog. My name is Daddy and online I prefer to refer to my son as T for privacy reasons. T was adopted by my partner and I last year and is the loveliest most adorable little boy anyone could ask for. It has been and continues to be quite a journey full or twists, turns and adventures; many of which we hope to document and share with you, our readers so enjoy.
Today as I sat musing about what to write as our opener, T who shall remain faceless on here until he is old and wise enough to make his own decisions grabbed a pen and paper, and flanked by his usual assistants (with some food) in his favourite spot on the sofa, started scribbling as if to lay down some rules. I think I know what he might be thinking so here goes:

1. Your blog shall be about me and centered on me and no body else
2. You shall not post embarrassing pictures of me on your blog because when I grow up and find out I just might throttle you for it
3. You shall not present any details that may portray me negatively or tarnish my brand; if there is anything negative to report, you must do your uttermost best to portray me positively
 4. You shall share earnings from your blog with me; full details shall be communicated to you later via my assistants
5. We shall love each other like family but business is business, and family and business don't often mix
6. Lastly these terms and conditions are binding and may be updated as and when appropriate

So that sorted, here is hoping you enjoy everything we will be sharing with you; the stories, the pictures, the tips, and all the rest. Enjoy xx