being a dad

A couple of nights ago Zoë showed the first signs that she is developing a sense of her own identity. Nino was tickling Zoë's foot when she shouted "no, my foot!' as she moved her foot away. "Mine, Mine" she said - and has continued to say ever since about everything. Up until now she has always said "Zoë's foot" or whatever it happens to be.

Now we have the problem of anything that is "Mine" means Nino and I are excluded. Putting on her pyjamas last night it was "My pyjamas, my foot, my leg"."Go away Mummy, MINE!!"."MINE DADDY, MINE!

Now everything is hers.

I asked Zoë yesterday what kind of cake she would like for her birthday party. "Worm cake" she said so worm cake it will be.

She's got the idea for worm cake from Max and Ruby on TV. Max, a rabbit for whom things always turn out right, has made worm cake and worm pancake. So, I'm going to make worm cake for Zoë's birthday. I expect it to be a pudding bowl shaped chocolate fudge cake with candy pebbles and wiggly worms and some grainy crunchy stuff in the chocolate fudge.

It's fun being a dad!

We had a great weekend at Centre Parcs at Whinfell forest in the Lake district a couple of weeks ago - Zoë loved it!

When we arrived we were greeted by a pair of ducks and a couple of young rabbits on the grass outside our apartment waiting to see what we had to feed them with. This was really exciting for Zoë as she's not had any 'close' contact with rabbits before - except for 'Max and Ruby' on the tv of course, her favourite programme. She was almost as excited by the 'trailer bikes' that many people were using to tow their young children behind them as they cycled around the forest. We, unfortunately for Zo, didn't need one as we were so centrally placed. Our apartment was on the lakeside across from the swimming and restaurant complex so everthing was within very easy walking distance.