Showing off

SINCE having Harry, Melissa’s said repeatedly that having a baby makes you forgetful. I’ve always gone along with this without really understanding what she’s talking about. Now I think I know what she means.

Last weekend Melissa spent the day with friends in Chester. This meant I spent the day looking after Harry.
It was all going very smoothly, so smoothly in fact that I tried to show off – and almost came a cropper.

Things started to go wrong when I put Harry down for his afternoon nap. I thought, what with it being Valentine’s weekend, I could do a bit of cleaning to save Melissa.

However, while cleaning the bathroom, I took off my wedding ring, put it down on the floor and promptly forgot all about it. With the cleaning done, Harry woke but I decided to go one step further and vacuum the house too.

Now Harry loves the vacuum cleaner and he was quite happy to follow me around the house while I finished off.
Feeling a little bit smug, we went downstairs to play and it wasn’t until a couple of hours later I realised I was missing something – my wedding ring.

Cue scenes of panic. I’ve no idea what Harry made of it all; I’m sure he was more than a little bemused to see his dad tearing round like a madman and turning the house upside down.

Eventually I realised I must have left it in the bathroom. Unfortunately there was no sign of it. Thinking I’d vacuumed it up, I set about dismantling the Dyson. Eventually – and after making a considerable amount of mess – I found it stuck in the tubes.

Of course, the relief turned to embarrassment pretty soon afterwards and the episode brought to mind one of my nan’s favourite sayings, “Pride comes before a fall.”

At least I learned a valuable lesson: don’t bother trying to help out with the housework when you’ve got a toddler in tow.