Bedtime stories

One thing I’m keen to do with Harry is get him interested in books at an early age.

For the last few months, Melissa has been busy buying all sorts of books and Harry has started to take notice of them, even if he does seem to be more interested in eating them than looking at them.

When he’s in the right mood, though, he will sit on my knee and listen while I read to him but these calm periods are pretty brief and normally conclude with Harry and me in a tug of war over the book.

I’ve also been trying to read Harry bedtime stories in the hope of calming him down before bedtime. I always used to look forward to a bedtime story when I was little and most experts say it’s good to get babies into a routine before they go to sleep at night.

Unfortunately, Harry obviously hasn’t heard any of these so-called experts and, even when I use my best BBC newsreader voice, he’s still gets too excited, bouncing around his cot and trying to snatch the book out of my hand.

I’ve tried different types of books; if My Favourite Truck is a bit too racy, how about Elmer the Elephant? No joy. We still end up with Harry standing up in his cot and chewing the rail in between shouts of excitement.

However, I’m determined not to give up. And at least reading Harry a bedtime story allows me to take a trip down memory lane with Thomas the Tank Engine.

Now I can’t wait until he’s old enough to have his own train set as well – then the fun will really start.