My new lifestyle

I’ve said before that having a child alters your lifestyle massively and last weekend summed up just how much my life has changed since Harry arrived.

In the past, a bank holiday weekend would have been based around trips to the pub, a nice meal out, and maybe a trip to the football. This time, my weekend included taking Harry to see his great, great Auntie Margaret and Uncle Charlie, a trip to Chirk’s maypole dancing display, and a first birthday party.

Now if you’d have told me five years ago that’s how I would be spending my weekends, I doubt I’d have believed you. But do you know what? I loved every minute of it, mainly because I was able to spend so much time with Harry and, of course, because I got to show him off to family and friends.

Unfortunately, my ideas about ideal days out don’t always accord with Harry’s. This meant that during our visit to Ellesmere to see Auntie Margaret and Uncle Charlie, I spent most of the time trying to stop Harry breaking various bits of furniture.

The maypole event was another challenge as Harry was determined to join in the dancing, which meant something of a battle during the performance. We managed somehow, though, and it was definitely worth it for the excellent home-made Welsh cakes we bought.

On Sunday Harry was invited to a party to celebrate a first birthday of one of his friends from playgroup, Austin. It was great fun (the food was fantastic – it’s been a while since I was able to have proper party food) and there was even a bouncy castle which, unfortunately, was a little on the small side for me. Harry enjoyed it though, and it was great to see him playing with the other children, even if I did have to intervene on a couple of occasions as he tried to wrestle toys off other children.

As we were recovering on Sunday night, Melissa said: “It’s going to be like this for the next 15 years, so you’d better get used to it.” I might just do that, you know.

Food, glorious food

We’ve been lucky that Harry has been such a good eater since he started on solid food.

His appetite seemed to be endless and he was quite prepared to eat anything we put in front of him.
But as with all babies, things change very quickly and Harry has now decided there as some foods he just doesn’t like, which is making life a little bit, well, messy.

Generally, he will put the food into his mouth, but if he doesn’t like the taste or texture, he takes it out again and waves it around. Sometimes, if you’re unlucky or don’t move quickly enough, you get caught in the crossfire which means you can end up with food plastered across your face.

Harry’s chief dislikes when it comes to food at the moment are jelly, pasta, set custard and baked beans. These also happen to be among the messiest foods when he decides to start throwing them around the place.

Interestingly, this change in attitude to some foods has coincided with Harry wanting to play a more active role at meal times. When we let him have a spoon and a yoghurt, he is able to get at least some of the food into his mouth (although most of it still ends up on the highchair).

He also likes to share food now, which is another experience not to be missed. Harry will put some food into his own mouth before taking it out a moment later and trying to put it in your mouth instead.

Again, this can be a messy process as Harry’s coordination is not perfect and the food can just as easily end up in your ear as your mouth. And when it does end up in your mouth, it’s not always particularly pleasant having been chewed already.

Hopefully this is just another phase in his development that will pass fairly quickly – if only to save on all the washing.

Smile

The pace of Harry’s development continues to amaze me. It’s only a couple of months since he started to walk but he’s now very confident on his feet and will dash about the place at surprising speed.

His latest trick is climbing. Melissa says he’s seen other children doing this at playgroup and is simply copying them; whatever, he’s certainly a quick learner.

The other day Harry and I were playing in the conservatory when Harry decided to throw his bottle of juice across the room. I went to pick it up and as soon as I turned my back, Harry climbed on to the coffee table and sat, cross-legged, grinning like a Cheshire cat and clearly very proud of what he’d done.
I snatched him off the table as quickly as I could but every time he gets an opportunity, he starts lifting his little leg to climb on anything and everything. One thing’s for sure, babysitting Harry is an energetic pastime.

And that’s not the only thing causing heart failure for us this week. Harry is now tall enough – just – to reach door handles so he can let himself out of rooms.

I thought this was still a few months off but a week or so ago I changed Harry’s nappy in the bathroom upstairs and was just putting the cream and dirty nappy away with my back to Harry. Moments later, I heard the door handle go and thought it was Melissa – so I was pretty shocked to see Harry disappearing off down the landing laughing to himself.

His character is really starting to shine through now – he knows when he’s done something wrong and will try and charm you with a smile when you tell him off.

He also flashes a smile when he’s succeeded in doing something he knows he shouldn’t, and he also looks at you and grins while trying to sidle up to something he knows he’s not allowed to touch.

And while keeping up with Harry may sometimes be a bit of challenge, it’s still the most rewarding experience of my life.

Ty Mawr revelation

We all like to moan about the council – the roads have got too many pot holes, our council tax is too high, and so on and so on.

Normally, I’m no different but, for a change, I’m going to say something good about Wrexham County Council.

So what’s the reason for this sudden change of attitude? Simple, I visited Ty Mawr Country Park on Sunday – and was bowled over.

For those of you that haven’t visited this fantastic facility in Cefn Mawr, it’s a superbly maintained park that has lovely walks, picnic areas, and play areas, as well as various animals, all in the shadow of the impressive Cefn Viaduct, (which I now know was built in 1848 by Thomas Brassey).

Best of all, there’s no entry fee – although you can make a donation to help with the upkeep of the park – which makes it ideal if you’re looking for an inexpensive way to spend an afternoon.
I’d driven past the entrance on numerous occasions, but I’d never actually visited the park. However, with the weather glorious, Melissa decided it would be the perfect spot for a picnic with Harry.

In fact the only problem was keeping Harry still while we ate our lunch – he was more interested in toddling off to see the animals. He was particularly taken with Hovis, a very large rabbit, and a turkey, whose name escapes me.

Then there were the guinea pigs, goats, sheep and donkeys. Harry was able to pat one of the donkeys but, once he started patting, he didn’t want to stop, which resulted in a tantrum that threatened to shatter a very peaceful afternoon.

Fortunately, with so much to see, the tantrum didn’t last long and Harry was soon smiling again.

It was a perfect way to spend a sunny spring afternoon and, given that Ty Mawr is only a couple of minutes from our front door, I’m sure we’ll be back again very soon.

Early mornings...

One thing’s for sure, you certainly get good value from your weekends when you’ve got a little one. Before we had Harry, our weekends were a chance to catch up on sleep after a long week at work.

I’m not talking about staying in bed all day, but being able to sleep until 9am was taken for granted.

Nowadays, sleeping until seven is a bonus. Over the Easter weekend, Harry was up at six every day – which meant we were downstairs having breakfast by quarter past. Unlike me, however, Harry is full of beans at that time of the day.
So on Saturday morning, while I was nursing a cup of tea and feeling sorry for myself, Harry was shouting at me to make a jigsaw with him. Believe me, it takes quite a lot of effort to get down on all fours and play at that time of day.

But getting up that early does have its advantages. For a start, the day is a lot longer.

We were out and about by half past eight, which is great if you need to go shopping – everywhere is, understandably, nice and quiet at that time of the morning (except, of course, for other parents who have been woken up at an unsuitable hour).

Another advantage is it encourages you to drink less alcohol; the thought of being woken up at six in the morning after one-too-many the night before does not appeal. While this can be a bit depressing, especially over a bank holiday weekend, I’m sure my liver is very grateful.

Finally, it also means I get to spend plenty of time with Harry – being up at six gives me a good 12 hours to play with him. The only thing is, we’re both ready for bed by seven in the evening.

Getting some understanding

It’s surprising how quickly toddlers pick things up. Harry is learning all the time and can now understand (some) instructions. For instance, if I ask him to bring me the ball, he will go off, find it and throw it at me.

I know it sounds a bit like training a dog, but it’s enormously satisfying when he understands what you’re trying to say. Harry’s also started trying to answer us, which is great, even if he’s only managing one or two recognisable words at the moment.

He has other ways of making understand what he wants too. At night time, for instance, when Harry’s ready for bed he’ll walk to the living room door and hold his arms out for me to take him up.

Now that Harry is beginning to understand us more, it’s time to begin the difficult task of telling him off when he does something naughty.

I have to say, I’m finding this difficult. The other day, Melissa was sat on the sofa while Harry and I were playing on the floor. Harry then wandered over to Melissa and put his head on her leg before biting her, viciously.

Melissa was shocked and told Harry off sternly. He smiled sweetly back at her, although I’m sure he knew he had done something wrong. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to keep a straight face.

Of course, the tables were turned a couple of days later when Harry decided to hit me in, how can a put this, a rather delicate area, with one of his toys. In between gasping for breath, I managed to say ‘naughty boy’ while Melissa collapsed in fits of laughter next to me.

Anyway, both Melissa and I are now making a conscious effort to be stern with Harry when he’s naughty. Something tells me it’s not going to be easy.

Appetite for destruction

I always wondered why my friends with children always looked slightly on edge. Now I’m beginning to understand.

In the last two weeks, Harry has managed to wreck our laptop, as well as smashing our slow cooker.

Not only has this caused a fair amount of stress in the Wright household – especially for Melissa who has been deprived of Facebook – it’s also turned out to be fairly costly to replace or repair the items in question.

It amazes me that someone so small can cause so much mischief. Some days when I step through the back door at home, there’s a trail of destruction leading to the front room.

On these occasions, I’m generally met by a grinning Harry, while a shell-shocked Melissa sits among the debris. As a rule, this isn’t a good time to point out that the house looks a bit of a mess.

But even on days like this, I can’t wait to get through the door, play with Harry and, if I’m really lucky, feed him his tea.

Meal times are now quite a challenge because Harry knows it’s time to eat as soon as we put him in his highchair.

The problem is, he doesn’t have a great deal of patience where food is concerned, so we always have five minutes of shouting and banging the table while I heat up his tea.

The trouble really starts if the food is too hot – Harry will scream and strain until his face is purple as one of us desperately tries to cool it down.

Believe me, I’ve ended up leaping around the kitchen singing at the top of my voice on more than one occasion to try and distract him. All things considered, it’s no wonder parents always look slightly on edge.