I realised that this week, I’d written a lot of rather sad posts.
Not all, but there’s definitely been a meloncholy feel running through them all.
So I thought I’d end the week on something positive.
My son.
I’ve written how much I love being Otis’ dad.
I can’t put into words how much of an honour it is to take care of him.
Watching him learn in front of my eyes is amazing.
Seeing him try things he’s just seen Jill or me do, is remarkable.
A few weeks ago, he started to clap.
Seeing his little hands bang together, while still remaining stiff, is something I’ll treasure forever.
But knowing it is all passing by at seemingly, the speed of light, is something I hate.
I want it to stop or at least slow down … and yet, at every turn, he seems to discover or learn something new and that is something I want to see so I’m sort of damned if I do, damned if I don’t.
A few days after his 7 month birthday, he started to crawl.
I know, I sound like a besotted Dad – and I am – but think about it, when was the last time you literally saw someone do something for the first time.
Try their first food?
Recognise their reflection?
Be able to move by their own actions?
It seems such a small thing and yet it is something huge.
To be where it all began is an amazing thing, made better by the fact you actually know it is significant whereas with most other things we go through in life, we only discover their importance after the event.
Which is why I want to share this moment of Otis’ development with you.
Not because I expect you to share the same emotional warmth about it that I do, but because regardless how sad, grumpy, angry or conflicted you may be feeling today … seeing a child literally experience something for the first time is something very beautiful indeed.
Have a great weekend.
Filed under: Babies, Corporate Evil, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Daddyhood
A while back I wrote a post on the evil that is ‘the baby pram manufacturer’.
I still stand by that view.
In my opinion, the people who market these products are more sick, manipulative, and down-right fucked-up than Sepp Blatter.
But there is someone worse.
Yes, even worse than Sepp and that’s the people who buy this shit that lets these manufacturers go on with their evil ways.
I thought the iCandy Raspberry pram ad was bad, but I’ve found something worse.
Because it’s not an ad, it’s a product and that product is this:
Yes, a pram with fucking Andy Warhol inspired printed fabric.
WHY?
WHY???????
And then they decide to go one-step further in the ‘push Rob to the point of mass murder’ by adding 2 points to their marketing collateral that even Andy Warhol himself would find a step too far.
1. They’ve called it the ‘globetrotter’ print.
GLOBETROTTER!!!
It’s a bloody pram, not a plane … but more than that, you just know the marketing department of Bugaboo saw iCandy’s ‘urban adventurer’ bollocks and decided they had to go one better by saying theirs was all about circumnavigating the globe, even though the furthest it will ever go is Chelsea bloody high street.
2. They have the audacity to call it ‘the retrospective collection’.
What are they trying to say, you should buy all 3 of them to complete the set?
Or are they suggesting that you should chuck your perfectly good pram away, because this seasons range has just been released, even though with a name like ‘retrospective’, it is actually the season from 1974.
Thank god they don’t mention how much this thing costs because it literally might make my head explode.
I hate pram manufacturers … I hate them with every bone in my body … but what I hate even more is that some label whore fuckwit, with more-money-than-sense is going to buy this for their kid and think they – and their kid – are something special, when all they’re really doing is announcing to the World they’re a fuckwit and their kid is going to end up the sort of entitled little bastard who reacts like an Elton John hissy fit when they’re told they’re not very good.
If you see any parent pushing their kid in one of these, report them to the NSPCC immediately.
… my son was born.
Six months.
In some ways that is no time at all and yet in other ways, it seems like I can’t remember a time without him in my life.
To say becoming a father has been a revelation to me is an understatement.
I’ve written about this before, but it blows my mind how much I love being Otis’ Dad.
I always thought the fun would begin when he could talk and waddle along but I was wrong.
In some ways, I would love to keep him as he is right now.
Not because he has to go wherever I want to go.
Nor because he has to watch whatever I want to watch.
And it’s certainly not because I have an obsession with changing nappies.
It’s because I recognise this as a very special and precious time in his development.
You see right now, the majority of his development – poor bugger – is coming from us.
I get to see, in real time, how he is learning. Or what he has yet to learn.
Watching him realise those things at the end of his arms can do stuff is amazing – even if it means I get smacked in the face by them 10,000 times a day.
And watching him look at himself in the mirror and not realise it’s him, even though he sees – and recognises – his Daddy is wonderful.
It’s also a bit disturbing [I hope he doesn’t turn into a thicko] but it’s wonderful just the same.
Then there’s listening to him make sounds.
Not the ones where it’s a tsunami of shit entering his nappy, I mean the ones where he is trying to communicate with us.
I knew I would love that, but I never realised how much.
Seeing my son literally see and experience things for the very first time is a privilege I never truly appreciated until it started happening and now I never want it to end … which is another reason why I’d love to keep him as he is, even though I know at every stage his of development, I’ll be wishing he stayed just like that too.
But nothing – and I mean nothing – beats the feeling of sheer joy I get when he wakes up.
Apart from the fact he is a happy baby [he obviously takes after his Mum in that regard] when he sees me, he literally shakes like a mad man, excited to see me.
How do I know he’s excited?
Because he always has a massive smile on his face.
It is single-handedly the most beautiful, wonderful, magical feeling I’ve ever had.
That’s not to demean the countless other beautiful, wonderful, magical feelings I’ve had … but this is something else.
A few weeks ago, I came home very late and he was fast asleep.
I leant over him and said “goodnight little Oty”, to which his big, beautiful eyes immediately slammed open.
There he was, lying on his back, looking straight up at me. No blinking. Just staring.
There was a slight pause before his legs and arms started shaking up and down, left and right while making a bunch of weird – but delightfully cute – sounds while giving me a massive smile before he then reached out with his little hand and starting feeling my face.
How I didn’t burst into tears at that moment, I’ll never know – but it was a moment that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Literally for the rest of my life.
Of course I know one day all this will stop – both because of his development and that he’ll go through a phase where he thinks his Dad is a stupid pain-in-the-ass – and that will make me very sad indeed … but even if I only received this single moment of happiness from him each day, I’d still say having him has been better than I ever imagined, so when you take into account all the other stuff he gives me, it’s no surprise I am so happy he’s here and why I am so proud to be his Dad.
So happy 6th month birthday my little Otis, you’re a wonderful, wonderful boy but please don’t grow up too fast, it’s already happening far too quickly for my liking.
Love you.
Daddy xxx
Otis hugging his Nonna
Thank you Otis for putting a smile on my face even when the tears are falling.
Thank you for distracting strangers from seeing my agony by endlessly smiling.
Thank you for inappropriately lightening the mood when I’m in danger of collapse.
Thank you for showing me your wonderful Mum can be even more wonderful.
Thank you for being the person who made my Mum’s last 3 months so joyful.
Thank you Otis for being mine.
I know I am a sentimental fool but Jill and I have been truly, deeply touched by all the lovely support, good wishes and celebration we’ve received about our sons birth.
There’s literally been an endless stream of it – from people we know, people we’ve not heard from in years and people we’ve never even met – and it’s been amazing and totally overwhelming.
I don’t know what we’ve done to deserve it – or should I say what I’ve done to deserve it – but we’re so very grateful and we hope that when Otis is old enough, he will see how many people were happy and excited about him coming into the World and realises that as much as the media likes to present the planet as being full of horrible things, the good people easily outweigh the bad.
That’s a beautiful lesson for him and a wonderful reminder for us.
Thank you.