Dad not daddy

THERE have been two fairly major developments in recent days. The first was not exactly unexpected but was certainly welcome: James sleeping through the night for the first time.

It was not exactly a lie-in (5.30am) but having six hours of uninterrupted sleep was such a treat I felt like doing a little jig of celebration

To put things in perspective, James has been a very good baby at night from the start. Until last week he was feeding once in the night (usually about 4am) but almost without exception he would go back to sleep within the hour, with a minimum of fuss. The following day, it was 5am and that has been the pattern ever since. In an ideal world, I'd like him to sleep until 7 but for the time being and, given that he's only 13 weeks old, I'll settle for 5.

All of this is in stark contrast to our experience with Harry; I can remember pacing around the house with him in the early hours of the morning, desperately trying to settle him after a feed. The thought of having six hours uninterrupted sleep was a distant dream!

The other major development has been that Harry has, quite unexpectedly, started calling me 'dad' rather than 'daddy'. While this may seem a fairly insignificant change, I have found it a bit of a shock, not least because it makes Harry sound so much more grown up. It has also made me feel a bit long in the tooth.

I first noticed it while we were on holiday and I thought it was just a freak occurrence. However, it's continued ever since.

I'm still not used to it which means I'll often ignore Harry's demands for my attention. This is fine in the house, but a bit embarrassing when we're out and about and to the rest of the world it just looks like I'm ignoring my son.

Interestingly, he still calls Melissa 'mummy' rather than 'mum'. When that changes we'll know he's definitely a little boy rather than our baby.