If you can't fool them - give in!

Having said yesterday that you can't fool babies - today I gave in and let Rosie have a go with my phone. I'm always frightened that she'll press 999 (911 in the USA) and we'll have squads of police at the door. Actually though, putting it on camera mode was the best - she even managed to take a photo of herself! She's had a long hot day today and is worn out after a day at the nursery and the excitememt of her grandparents being around. She got so hot and upset earlier that I thought she was going to blow - but a cool bath did the trick - and as any father will tell you sometimes only mummy will do.

Why can't you fool babies?

Why can't you fool a baby? We have given Rosie a real mobile phone (with no battery or chip in it obviously) because she is so keen on pressing the buttons. But no matter how much you give it to her she will throw it down, and I mean throw it down if she sees the real thing nearby. In this picture she has just reached up to pull the home telephone off its cradle to press all the buttons. That is why she is looking at the camera in that "what have I done?" look. It's the same with remote controls. We have given her any number of remote controls to play with - but she only really wants the Sky+ and DVD controllers. These are the only ones that do anything ... so I suppose babies are't stupid!

Missing Rosie in Arbroath

This is the blustery town of Arbroath on the east coast of scotland. Hope you like the odd picture I took of the habour wall? The town is famous for it's Arbroath Smokies which are wonderful and Arbroath FC which is not the best supported team in Britain but does hold a record for a win; 36 - 0 v Bon Accord in the Scottish Cup 1st Round in October 1885. I was up at 5 am to catch the plane up to Scotland to do some work in Arbroath and not back until 10 pm - so I didn't get see Rosie all day. Isn't it amazing just how much you miss them - then she woke up at 11 pm and I so wanted her to go back to bed. Crazy!

The last "daytime" bottle

I just had to record this moment. This is the last daytime bottle Rosie is going to get. I have been looking after Rosie on Saturday and Sunday mornings for the last nine months or so while Helen is at work. We have a great routine that we both enjoy very much - Rosie and me that is. Rosie wakes up and I give her breakfast then we play for a bit before going to the swings - some time late in the morning I give Rosie a bottle and she sleeps for two hours while I read the paper. There is something special about giving Rosie a bottle - its a little intimate moment that only we have shared on weekend mornings - and now it's over. It really brings in to focus how quickly children grow - and I am going to treasure every moment.

The baby is nearly here!

Just two more shifts and Helen is going to start her holiday then maternity leave. I can't wait because I think she is just doing too much at present, but after tomorrow she has next Friday and then that is that for work until February 2007 at the earliest. If the baby comes on time on the due date of August 8th it will give us 5 weeks of getting ready, and making sure Rosie is prepared for the arrival of her brother or sister. As you can see from the picture Helen is her world at the moment so how will she take to having to share?

Tantrums - your thoughts.

I had the following comment about tantrums after posting about how Rosie hates the nail clippers - about the only thing she does hate.

"D**** throws a tantrum when we change her nappy. The result can be a very messy especially if its poo! We try distraction methods by handing her objects we think she might like (mobile phone) but alas she has worked us out and throws them on the floor. I think they like to watch us get stressed".

You are so right K**** - they know how to push all the buttons. You may have seen The Baby Mind Reader on the TV the other night and he certainly thinks babies know what they are doing! Most babies also do the "throwing things off the high chair" routine when they are feeding - especially drinks. They love to see the mess on the floor. When Rosie throws something down she looks at it is if to say "how did that get down there?" and "can you pick it up for me? I want to throw it away again".

Don't call me scar-face!

If you look very carefully you will see a long scar along Rosies cheek. She has what seems like a pathological fear of the nail clippers and goes into a near tantrum if you take them anywhere near her. This scar was a result of a finger nail that needed trimming. So this afternoon I literally held Rosie down while Helen administered the dreaded clippers. Babies do this don't they? For some its hair washing, bathtime or even the pushchair but for Rosie it is clippers - at least it's nor sleeping - phew!

Office Baby

Ho hum. Another day in the office. Look at all these jobs I've got to do ... after Rosie has finished watching 64 Zoo Lane on my computer! I never did get logged on, it was off to Birmingham for meetings while Rosie went to the museum with mummy. A museum interesting to babies? Actually yes! New Walk Museum in Leicester has lots of interactive exhibitions, particularly with doors that open and holes you can crawl through - which any baby finds intriguing. Whilst there she managed to eat a whole pack of dried apricots ... and she has just done the smelliest, nastiest ponger of a nappy that you have ever seen (or smelt)!

England Yobbo!

Well ... she lasted 15 months but I am afraid that Rosie has turned into and England yobbo. Here she is with her England "clappers" ready to support the boys against Sweden. While she hasn't made the trip to Germany, she is slowly getting more adventurous in getting around the house. From standing up and walking round the furniture in the living room she can now walk round the walls and down the hall into the kitchen. It is really remarkable to watch her world expand and see her become like a little explorer - by the time she can walk properly I think there will be no stopping her. Thats why we have ordered her a cage - sorry playpen!

Rosie meets Charlie Brown!

Today Rosie came face to face with Charlie Brown and Zoe, two adorable puppies who are very nearly three months old. It must have seemed very strange as unlike her furry toys these ones were moving on their own and Zoe even licked her hand. She seemed ok at first and then decided that she had got too close for comfort and was desperate to get away - as you can see in the photo! Also in the picture is my friend George who is Vicar of Thurnby in Leicestershire. George is from Springfield, Illinois so I guess you can see why he likes Thurnby - just look at the view. As for Charlie Brown and Zoe - I have a feeling that Rosie will get to like them very much.

Rock and Roll Baby

Pinball Wizard; Strawberry Fields Forever; W.O.L.D; Brown Sugar; Angels - just some of the music that Rosie is being brought up to. Isn't it wondeful to see a baby bounce up and down on their nappy in time to the beat? Yes - providing its not full at the time. Since she's been born many mealtimes have rocked for Rosie, as the Juke Box pumps out the hits. Its a 1976 Rock-Ola and still has the $ mechanism, although it takes old 50p pieces now. When she came home a great soothing track was the 1958 version of "All in the Game" by Tommy Edwards. Mind you she gets exposed to new music as well - only this week she's been bouncing and clapping to James Hunter. Ben and Michael had the same musical upbringing and look at them now - one running a disco business and the other a DJ on a university radio station. How does it go? Oh yes ..... and the beat goes on!

Reply to Elastic********Lady - Last two posts

Comment on Garden Furniture
Finding the magical "Made In The USA" tag has become as difficult as buying a winning lottery ticket. On the rare occasion one does surface, the cost is usually exorbitant. All thoughts of inhumane torture aside though, it really is an adorable furniture set.
Reply
Here in the UK it's also difficult to get "Made in the UK" tags. One of our local power companies "Powergen" has just closed it's low wage call centres in India and is bringing the work home to give people better service - is the tide going to turn? I don't think so but trying to buy things ethically has got to be the way forward.

Comment on Sex after childbirth
Holy crap! Reading that made me automatically cringe, curl my lip, and cross my legs.......tightly.
Reply
Seeing my wife have a ceasarian birth for Rosie, I do know one thing - that if men had to have babies there would be a lot fewer. And the point of the post was to reflect on the fact that men have to be told to hold back .... which really shows a lack of respect for our partners. Hey nothing new there!

Childrens Garden Furniture

Here is Rosie standing next to her new garden furniture! The world has certainly moved on since Ben and Michael were babies - garden furniture for children would have been thought of as the hieght of luxury. I can't help feeling uneasy about buying this, it's imported from China by a top supermarket and sold for £17 for two chairs and a table. If the supermarket makes half that means the cost of making it, packaging it, transporting around the world and distributing it to a local store can only be around £8.50. How is it done? I really hope that this is not garden furniture for children made by children - that would be just dreadful.

Sex

Thought the title might drag you in today. Saw a great article in the Times today ... all about how men should be careful about sex after birth. We should all be caring, loving, attentive, even share a hot bath with our partner but wait at least 6 weeks before asking the big question .... "er how about it then?" Obviously some men won't put it like that - they may well be less romantic but the broad thrust of a new leaflet, as reported in the papers, is ... wait for it. Oh honestly - as if many women will even let their husbands or partners in the bedroom for at least six months. Mind you stereotypes die hard if you type in "sex after childbirth" into google the first website that comes up is an Australian one ... strewth Bruce .. give Sheila a break!

Mardy Bum!

We have a saying in Leicester when someone is being a bit "offish" or "miserable" - we call them a "mardy bum"! This is Rosie at playgroup today, she is looking towards the camera for support because she just doesn't like being with other children. Helen says she really cheers up after playgroup, as if a cloud has been lifted. I think it may be more to do with the fact that she fell over twice and still remembers taht one of the little girls bit her arm the other week. Still she is a bit uncomfortable around other kids and i hope it's something she grows out of. Mind you I was the same, didn't join the cubs or scouts and when I played football I stood upfront on my own as chief goalhanger!

Feeding time again ....

Another hectic tea-time in the McCarthy household. Quite pleased I've managed to satisfy Rosie and Michael - and Helen - with a nice cod in breadcrumbs, cheese & mushroom sauce and veg. Yes I did coat the cod fillets myself and I was astonished to see Rosie eat it all. It is so wonderful to prepare something and see her eat it. I've noticed that even at this age she has her likes and dislikes, but just by sitting and having dinner with everyone else she'll eat everything - even veg! She's chatting away in the kitchen now with Helen, well pointing and shouting really. Her personality is developing, she is getting a sense of humour and is a litte mischievious and so is Rosie!

Rosie's first "Baby Rave"!

Last night I watched a programme on BBC2 about the summer of 1989 - remember all those raves? Well actually I missed out on all of that and it looked great. Now Rosie has been to a Baby Rave all of her own - with trance music, fantastic lights and chill out rooms. Mind you I don't think anyone would have been popping "e" only the odd organic raisin. On the way down to the rave I was stopped in the street by an oldish looking chap who pointed at Rosie and said "I used to have one like that - now she's 21". I guess he misses the baby girl in his daughter, but when i told him I had two boys aged 20 and 22 he gve me that old, familiar "you must be mad" look. And at 50 I'm an oldish chap really.

England v Paraguay v Rosie May

I'm really looking forward to the next World Cup in 2010. Rosie will be 5 and her little sister or brother will be 3 so I'll get to watch all the England matches. Today England kicked off against Paraguay, Beckham scored after three minutes and Rosie woke up after ten. So while the lads were toiling away in the heat I was giving Rosie her lunch - a fine scrambled and baked beans with toast. Then at half time it was bacon butties for everyone and into the garden to watch Rosie in her boat! I did manage to see the last 15 minutes of the match but frankly it would have been less stressful watching Rosie teeter at the top of the stairs - boy did they make hard work of it. I was convinced we'd let an equalizer in. Still today every England fan got to feel what it was like following Leicester City .... it's never over until its over!

Then there were three

Here they are, all three children together in one room - well for 5 minutes at any rate. Ben has just picked up Michael from University in Sheffield and dropped him off at home. Needless to say there are boxes and bags all over the place, but it's good to have Michael home - he can sort out all the IT problems around the house ... and get the tea from the take-away! Ben's off out to work at a disco and Michael is slobbing out for a bit while the World Cup is on - aren't we all - especially the German defence.

Phew ..What a Scorcher!

Well not really a scorcher ... more of a "isn't the weather nice today?" kind of day. Mind you Helen is really feeling the heat. I suppose when you are 7 months pregnant it really does take it out of you moving about with all that extra baby weight. I know she is looking forward to her parents coming over from France to help. It's lifting and carrying Rosie that is the worst - when I am around it's ok, but while I'm away i know it is a struggle. Still the good news is that Helen starts her holiday on Ist July and then straight into maternity leave in August, which is really good. Now .. what do you think about names? If it's a boy what about Jeremiah Joseph? Girls ... not a clue yet.

Learning to share

Poor old Rosie. Her dolls house is her pride and joy. Today she had a sleep at lunchtime and came downstairs to find that Mummy had invited some friends over ... and they were playing with her dolls house. In the picture you can see Rosie guarding her house to repell all boarders - especially Daisy Hainsworth. She was in fact stnding on the house all afternoon - hogging it.

It is really interesting to see how children gradually learn to share, although as you can see rosie has a long way to go!

Bumps and pictures

This is a picture that Rosie made at the nursery on Friday, not sure what it is but it looks impressive to me! She also made a pasta necklace which no-one wants to wear - I wonder why, I think the water based paint on it might be a clue. A good day to today ... apart from poor old Rosie bumping her head on the floor after she fell over. We are keeping an eye on her and all is well, I suppose she is bound to fall over sometimes. I remember driving through Leicester to the Accident & Emergency when Michael pulled a cup of tea over himself as a 2 year old. Come to think of it he was there with football injuries quite a lot .... don't remember his brother going that often - if at all. Ben is like me ... in my 50 years i have never broken a bone in my body, I have had plenty chopped about a bit by surgeons but thats another story.

Early Morning Swing

It's Sunday, the sun is out, the summer is here and its still only 7.30 in the morning ... so what is a Daddy to do? Take his little girl to the swings on the park of course. We are very lucky to live in a nice part of Leicester close to Victoria Park, so it's only a 5 minute walk to the swings and Rosie loves it. I don't remember Ben and Michael being as happy on the swings as Rosie ... but its over 20 years ago so the memory is getting hazy.

I have to say it is really spooky that on the way we walk past my Grandma's old house which is just 150 yards away. I'm a home boy really and have always lived in Leicester. I guess as much as I look at houses in Ireland and France on the internet I'll never really leave. Too near the football I think!

Girls will be girls?

This is Rosie playing with a dolls house given to her by her cousins - Charlotte, Sophie and Sarah. She is really happy when she is throwing the dolls out of the windows, trying to eat the beds and standing on the balcony - in fact it makes me wonder if girls are programmed to like dolls houses? Last night she climbed the stairs for the very first time to get closer to it. When baby number 2 is born we'll be able to see if this is the case, especially if its a boy ... I have a Scalextric slot racing track and a Hornby electric train set in the cellar from Ben and Michael to try out.

Incidentally I have a friend who banned their two boys from having guns and gave them Lego building bricks instead - guess what they made? Yes ... stonking big machine guns!

The same but different

I was asked how different it is bringing up chidren now to the last time around in the 1980's. The answer is rather like the title of this post ... the same but different. This picture of the new part of BBC Broadcasting House brings it home really. The two wings from the 1930's and the 21st Century capture the times in which they were built - both very confident. That really is how it is with Rosie compared to Ben and Michael. Everything now is streamlined, modern, cheaper and more accessible - especially with the web. The internet was around but just for boffins in 1983 when Ben was born ... and an Amstrad was the hieght of consumer chic. Even just 20 years apart the children will be a completely different generation!

First Steps Excitement

Got home from London today to a very exciting moment. Helen had been shopping with Rosie and went into the Early Learning Centre in Leicester. This is a toy shop for young children, which does amazingly good, simple toys very cheaply - one only hopes that they are fair trading with suppliers in developing countries? Rosie spotted a wooden walking trolley and made straight for it ... so Helen bought one and I got to put together this evening. Rosie has been walking round the furniture but getting a bit weedy when it comes to letting go ... now though - as you can see from the photo - she is off on her trolley. I missed the boys doing this stage for the first time so it was great to be here for it .... ahhhh.