Welcome to 2013

Dylan finds his mummy in the kitchen, washing up.

 
Dylan: What are you doing here?
Daddy: Your mummy was put on this planet to make wonderful little boys like you.
Dylan: Oh dear.
 
It has been a long time since I posted a blog update and this may well be my last. It’s not that I’ve found a job, it’s more that things feel like they are coming to an end and I need to make the most of my time at home.
 
I passed the Diploma and, incredibly, got distinctions in the exam and evidence file. The exam board said “All the judges agreed that they would wish to employ Chris. His enthusiastic personality and natural communication ability, combined with his clear speech and articulate way of presenting facts, make him stand out from the crowd. He has a vision for the future and we feel he will be an outstanding head of internal communications in a few years.” You’d think this sort of kind testimonial would go a long way towards getting me a job but I’m learning that it doesn’t work quite like that.

Every year I go to the Cropredy Music Festival with five friends. In 2011, we were all employed and pursuing careers. Right now, half of us are unemployed and another one is employed but unpaid. Holly’s brother was made redundant after Christmas. The whole of my old team was disbanded. The job market is bleak and it seems to be affecting everyone.
 
Still, we had a wonderful Christmas and Dylan loved every second of it. He’s doing okay with his letters and numbers, and he knows all the common colours. Occasionally he will tell me what two colours make purple, orange and green. He’s just passed his second badge at Tumble Tots and we have finally started swimming lessons. Unfortunately, the lessons coincide with his nap, so the first week I had to leave after ten minutes with Dylan sobbing in my arms. But we went back and he loved it. We’ve also started making weekly trips to Horseworld as Dylan has become quite obsessed with animals. He knows the names of all the horses at Horseworld and, in his animal books, can correctly identify lions, tigers, cheetahs and leopards, which I think is pretty good for a two-and-a-half year old.
 
Our house is a lot of unfinished jobs. Before Christmas, I started decorating our bedroom, and I’d like to think I would have finished by now if I hadn’t discovered a serious condensation problem in the loft when I went up to fetch the tree. We’ve emptied the contents of the loft into the spare room and my dad is helping me to improve our loft space but it is slow going. Our bedroom is on hold until the spare room is clear and I don’t know when that will be. On the plus side, the long periods of wet weather, followed by the recent cold, have highlighted problems with our cavity wall insulation, which will be fixed tomorrow. I’m looking forward to a warmer, dryer house.
 
I’ve more or less given up on writing short stories. Before Christmas, I started working on a sitcom which absorbed a lot of my free time, and then this was parked to work on a new recording. In January, one year after I recorded Americana, I went back to the studio to record four more of my songs. It was an intense weekend but I’m really pleased with the results, some of which can be heard here. My ‘Song for Christmas ep’ will be available to buy through iTunes and Amazon later this year.
 
I’m still gigging and last month I was invited to play an hour long set at the Pucklechurch Cider Festival. In May, I’ll be playing the first set after the official Page Park bandstand opening ceremony and I’m planning to write a song to mark the occasion. It’s lovely to be invited back to play these festival gigs, especially when I can see Dylan dancing and singing along.
 

He’s always singing nowadays. Loud and mostly out of tune. And he’s always coming out with new expressions like 'What are you doing here?' (meaning: what are you up to?) It seems like only yesterday, when his favourite film told the story of a 'wan' (lion) cub and the circle of life, he proudly stood at the top of the stairs and shouted 'Daddy, Wan-King!)'

Those days are gone but the entertainment never stops. Someday soon I'm going to have to go back to work and, even though I will hopefully be employed in the communications role I've been after for so long, it's going to be really hard to leave my boy.

He's magic.

If the 'Shoo' fits

Dylan has always been fond of animals—it’s something we’ve encouraged since he was born. A few weeks ago, we were walking home from the railway path and we saw a dog with its owner. I take Dylan over to say ‘hello’ but, instead, he says ‘Shoo!’ This is what I hear. ‘Shoo dog!’ Over the next few days and weeks this same message is shared with the cats and birds that visit our garden, the fish at the aquarium and the horses at Horseworld. We blame his grandmother.

 
I’ve finished my diploma. Towards the end the workload was intense and I even spent a few days gaining work experience with the lovely guys at efex Ltd creative design agency near Basingstoke. The results are due early in the New Year but I must say a big thank you to Holly’s mum for her support with Dylan in the run up to the exam—I don’t know how I would have coped otherwise.
 
In the week before my exam, I made roasted pheasant with apples and cider (Nigel Slater’s Tender vol. II), served it with a creamy fennel bake (Jamie’s Great Britain); and honey glazed partridge with bashed neeps and cabbage (Gordon Ramsey’s Healthy Appetite). I also made walnut and apricot slices (Green & Black’s Ultimate Chocolate recipes – the new collection), which everyone seemed to like more than me.  Last week we had roasted Spatchcock Poussin, which was beautiful, and I’ve made several bottles of Irish Whisky Cream, which probably won’t last until Christmas.
 
Since the diploma, I’ve tidied up the garden; given blood for the first time; helped out with Christmas in Downend; replaced all the light fittings in the hall, stairs and landing; and I’m currently decorating the master bedroom. This weekend I shall be representing the Friends of Page Park as an elf in the Christmas on the Hill parade.
 
I didn’t win the InkTears flash fiction competition but I haven’t given up. Not long ago I was interviewed about my writing and you can read the interview here. And I’m finally ready for another trip to the recording studio—I shall be recording more of my songs in January 2013.

Dylan’s doing really well at the moment. He’s eating and sleeping better than he normally does, and, thanks to his weekly visits to Tumble Tots, he’s always climbing and jumping. Before he goes to bed, he helps me to read ‘Maisy’s Bath Time and Maisy’s Bus’ – he recognises words like ‘hooray’, ‘brmm-brmm’, ‘ding-dong,’ ‘splash splash’, and all the numbers. Potty training has been mostly successful although he’s lost interest a little and now says ‘no’ every time we ask him if he needs the toilet (Holly gives him a choice: ‘toilet or potty?’ which works quite well). Last week he had an accident while sitting in his high chair—it ran off the chair an into the canvas basket where we keep Dylan’s thirty or so bibs. These days the washing machine is always on.
 
Between rain showers, I take Dylan on a rare trip to the park. He plays on the swings and chases the other children, splashing through puddles in his Wellingtons. He’s always been a sociable little boy. He climbs up the steps of the climbing frame and a young girl, slightly older than Dylan, is blocking his path. ‘Move over and let the boy past,’ says her father but there’s no need, Dylan has it covered.

‘Shoo!’ he says, waving his hands at the girl. ‘Shoo!’ He’s such a charmer.

8 Hand Boy

Dylan points at the television and says ‘DeeDaa.’ This used to mean ‘Wall-E’, which we watched a few thousand times before we switched to Monsters Inc. and The Incredibles. None of these make him happy anymore but we've recently discovered that we don’t need to put the television on to keep him amused. If we give Dylan permission to look through the DVD cabinet, he will happily spend hours sorting through his DVDs, switching them between cases and then switching them back. Life is simple until it's time to tidy up.

Between Mickey’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Wheels on the Bus, Dylan has been enjoying the Olympics. He thinks the gymnastics is the funniest thing he has ever seen but it’s the horse riding that really captures his imagination. ‘’Orse,’ he says, over and over, pointing to the television in the hope that we’ll phone the organisers or the BBC and ask them  to put on a bit of unscheduled show jumping to keep him happy. Then Holly has a brainwave.

HorseWorld. What a great idea. It’s a retirement home for aging horses but it also caters for ponies, donkeys, rabbits, goats, pigs, ferrets and small boys. Throw in a few slides, a soft play area, an adventure playground and a café where short people can reach the controls on the microwave, and it’s Dylan’s idea of heaven.

This week, as well as grooming horses, riding toy tractors and climbing into pig pens, we’ve been swimming, had lessons on the harmonica, counted the ducks in Vassells Park, chased a local kitty around Page Park and made kites in playgroup. I’ve sent the second part of my Diploma off to the printers, made potato rostis, eaten the first of the cherry tomatoes from our garden and gone to the cinema for the first time in two years (to see The Dark Knight Rises). Last time I went to the movies, I was on paternity leave. How time flies.

I’m washing up in the kitchen when Dylan rushes out and says ‘Poo!’ For some reason, he isn’t wearing nappy. I ask him to show me and he leads me into the lounge, where his nappy is scrunched up on the sofa. Then he takes me to the downstairs toilet, where his potty is on the toilet with an inch of liquid in it. He took his nappy off, peed in his potty, took his potty to the toilet and then came to get me. This sort of thing has been happening a lot recently. Our boy is telling us that he is ready to be potty trained and we’re the proudest parents on the planet right up until the point where he urinates in one of our kitchen cupboards.

Oh well. Accidents will happen. Again and again and again.
 

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