I have just written a long post about Lizzy Faces' first week at nursery, but I didn't like it. I was only half way through it but it was long and boring enough at that. I think I'm not ready to get into all that yet, it's been a long and confusing week. For everyone. Instead why don't I tell you about my first day as Stay At Home Pappa Carr?
It's 14:38 on my first Friday at home with Lizzy. I've been off work since Tuesday, but with the return to work and the start of nursery it hasn't been a holiday - in fact I booked the time off knowing it wouldn't be so it's no surprise and not a problem. I got a good day yesterday coding anyway (although I lost 4 hours to a MySQL script which wouldn't work because I missed the full stops around my variables. Four of these: “. “ How annoying - the frustration is not replaced by relief when you solve this, it is replaced by more frustration that a)you had missed it, b)you weren't able to see that you had missed it and c)that visual studio didn't just bloody well highlight it, isn't that the point of having development environment. I hate you Visual Studio, and MySQL. The celebration comes later, when you are over all of that and your brain works again - if you don't know what I'm talking about, then lucky you).
Anyway, here we are and I am able to write this now as Lizzy is having her afternoon nap, though it may get cut short at any moment. Fergotron had tried over the last week or two to make suggestions, there are various activities that I could go to to fill the day and I was even invited to tea with her friends today if I wanted to go. All of this support has been incredibly kind, but on day 1 I just wanted to find my feet, see if I was able to make it through by myself. Which so far I have.
Anyway, here we are and I am able to write this now as Lizzy is having her afternoon nap, though it may get cut short at any moment. Fergotron had tried over the last week or two to make suggestions, there are various activities that I could go to to fill the day and I was even invited to tea with her friends today if I wanted to go. All of this support has been incredibly kind, but on day 1 I just wanted to find my feet, see if I was able to make it through by myself. Which so far I have.
So this morning I woke up a little later than planned, but not that late as Fergotron left the house just after 7 to cycle to the station and then that was it, the Pappa Carr Show had begun. I was worried that after Fergotron had gone Lizzy wouldn't settle, she isn't used to being left with me for the day and she must have been unsure of what we would talk about, like when your friend brings their other friend you don't know to lunch and then goes to the loo. That panicked voice screaming in your head 'arrrrgggghhhhhh I it's been silent for 6 seconds, this is a disaster' quickly followed by a desperate scrabble for any subject matter 'so... do you like cheese?'....
Luckily, it wasn't quite as bad as that today. We sat in the front room and played together, Lizzy seemed to be having a great time and I was encouraged by that so we went for breakfast. Not my forte, I'm not a morning person so Fergotron is always in charge of breakfast - Lizzy could sense the tension as I put her into her high chair; it was palpable. I made up her Weetabix, remembering the banana just in time. I heated up the milk, mashed it all together in that cement mix style and, after debating whether to feed it to her or re-skim the plaster we got started.
Lizzy gave it a little look, looked at me and slowly, with trepidation she took a mouthful, it was almost too much, which way would the sword of Damocles fall.....then with a wry smile she went for another mouthful and we were on! She ate it all, with the odd stop for a little drink of water. From then on we both agreed that it was going to be ok, I was no Fergotron (or Mummy Face as Lizzy knows her) but maybe this would be a fun addition to her week.
After breakfast and getting cleaned and dressed we headed out. I made sure to prepare the pram (i.e. put the cup holder on for the Caffe Nero I was going to treat myself to) and got the bag ready. I had a grand plan to go swimming so we had all our stuff, but once I got into town I realised it was the start of the summer holidays and pouring with rain – a recipe for the worst swimming experience ever. So we went and had a wonder round town together, we went to the exchange place and sold some spare RAM and old Xbox games (for £21, more than I expected) then we went for Daddy’s Nero. Since I was having a snack and a coffee I gave Lizzy half a banana and a drink of water, she watched me as I drank my coffee and copied me by drinking her water. It was good fun. She was loving the rain cover, and found it very amusing when we reached out for each other and high fived – Oh I forgot to tell you about the trains, I’ll do it at the end**
Luckily, it wasn't quite as bad as that today. We sat in the front room and played together, Lizzy seemed to be having a great time and I was encouraged by that so we went for breakfast. Not my forte, I'm not a morning person so Fergotron is always in charge of breakfast - Lizzy could sense the tension as I put her into her high chair; it was palpable. I made up her Weetabix, remembering the banana just in time. I heated up the milk, mashed it all together in that cement mix style and, after debating whether to feed it to her or re-skim the plaster we got started.
Lizzy gave it a little look, looked at me and slowly, with trepidation she took a mouthful, it was almost too much, which way would the sword of Damocles fall.....then with a wry smile she went for another mouthful and we were on! She ate it all, with the odd stop for a little drink of water. From then on we both agreed that it was going to be ok, I was no Fergotron (or Mummy Face as Lizzy knows her) but maybe this would be a fun addition to her week.
After breakfast and getting cleaned and dressed we headed out. I made sure to prepare the pram (i.e. put the cup holder on for the Caffe Nero I was going to treat myself to) and got the bag ready. I had a grand plan to go swimming so we had all our stuff, but once I got into town I realised it was the start of the summer holidays and pouring with rain – a recipe for the worst swimming experience ever. So we went and had a wonder round town together, we went to the exchange place and sold some spare RAM and old Xbox games (for £21, more than I expected) then we went for Daddy’s Nero. Since I was having a snack and a coffee I gave Lizzy half a banana and a drink of water, she watched me as I drank my coffee and copied me by drinking her water. It was good fun. She was loving the rain cover, and found it very amusing when we reached out for each other and high fived – Oh I forgot to tell you about the trains, I’ll do it at the end**
It turned out that I had forgotten to bring any toys for Lizzy and suddenly I was worried, I’d dropped the ball early on – maybe I wasn’t cut out for it!! I remembered I had packed her whales for swimming so gave her that, she didn’t look overly enthusiastic so I was left to entertain her myself and thus I was to be seen today wandering round town pulling faces, making funny noises and randomly clapping. But we made it! We went back to the exchange and bought a new 8 GB RAM module for my laptop and then headed for the bus (I had chosen to bus it home as there is no access from the returning platform without hundreds of stairs).
The bus home was fun, there were lots of old ladies who enjoyed smiling at and waving to Lizzy. This makes you very pleased as a parent I have found, it’s nice to know that strangers think your baby is awesome it’s like a little pools win. We played on the way home, chatting and pretending to eat each other – a weird pastime I am planning to address in another post, why exactly do we always seem to pretend to eat our children? What the fuck is that about? Anyway, a nice old lady as she got off the bus felt compelled to compliment me on my parenting, informing me that it was lovely to see a parent interacting with their child as they are usually just on their phones. A very lovely thing to say but also a very sad commentary on the world these days.
So we got home just in time for lunch. I tried Lizzy with some fish and vegetables but she wasn’t interested – I thought she wouldn’t be as she didn’t like it the first time round. She stared to worry again, where was her mummy Face, she makes nice lunch…. But never fear Pappa Carr is here!!!! And the scrambled eggs with vegetables and cheese went down a treat – so much so in fact that as a reward I let her have an Ella’s pouch for dessert, and if I wasn’t winning before then that sealed the deal for sure!!!
The bus home was fun, there were lots of old ladies who enjoyed smiling at and waving to Lizzy. This makes you very pleased as a parent I have found, it’s nice to know that strangers think your baby is awesome it’s like a little pools win. We played on the way home, chatting and pretending to eat each other – a weird pastime I am planning to address in another post, why exactly do we always seem to pretend to eat our children? What the fuck is that about? Anyway, a nice old lady as she got off the bus felt compelled to compliment me on my parenting, informing me that it was lovely to see a parent interacting with their child as they are usually just on their phones. A very lovely thing to say but also a very sad commentary on the world these days.
So we got home just in time for lunch. I tried Lizzy with some fish and vegetables but she wasn’t interested – I thought she wouldn’t be as she didn’t like it the first time round. She stared to worry again, where was her mummy Face, she makes nice lunch…. But never fear Pappa Carr is here!!!! And the scrambled eggs with vegetables and cheese went down a treat – so much so in fact that as a reward I let her have an Ella’s pouch for dessert, and if I wasn’t winning before then that sealed the deal for sure!!!
And that brings us almost up to date, we did a little hoovering – Lizzy doesn’t love the hoover so I put her in the Bjorn and we did it together. We had a nice time, and since she was good we read two stories (the snail and the whale, and my favourite: The Gruffalo). We did a little more playing as I installed my RAM and tried it out (it seems to be working ok, apparently I have an on board 2gb as well so I’m now running a 10 gig machine – not too shabby) then I tricked her into having a sleep, she thought we were playing as I put her in the cot then I drew the curtains, turned on the bug (we have a sleepy bug thing that makes jungle noises, I don’t mean I have hidden microphones in there) And that was it. She cried a little at first but after a few minutes she was gone and that was 59 minutes ago. And here I am now, finishing this post listening to absolute radio 90s. I haven’t had lunch though, so perhaps I need to sort out my priorities.
A successful day then so far, it’s not over yet but it’s looking good. We didn’t run out of things to say to each other, we impressed an old lady with our lovely interactive style and though we didn’t go swimming, we had great fun playing out in the town in the rain. And most important of all, Lizzy has hardly stopped smiling at all. I don’t mind telling you I was worried, I am on her turf, I’m an intruder in her daily routine and she didn’t have to enjoy it but, today at least, I’ve won her over. Now for some well-deserved lunch and to think about next week’s adventures. I think I’m going to like these Fridays hope Lizzy feels the same.
A successful day then so far, it’s not over yet but it’s looking good. We didn’t run out of things to say to each other, we impressed an old lady with our lovely interactive style and though we didn’t go swimming, we had great fun playing out in the town in the rain. And most important of all, Lizzy has hardly stopped smiling at all. I don’t mind telling you I was worried, I am on her turf, I’m an intruder in her daily routine and she didn’t have to enjoy it but, today at least, I’ve won her over. Now for some well-deserved lunch and to think about next week’s adventures. I think I’m going to like these Fridays hope Lizzy feels the same.
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** The Trains!! Lizzy has just woken up so I can't get into it, but she found them amazing. I thought she would be sacred of the noise but as the non-stoppers zoomed through the station she thought it was brilliant and spent the whole wait looking for more. She's a very curious little girl, and possibly something of a speed daemon haha. Amazing - now afternoon snack time!