Daddy time

As I type Mark is singing a very loud rendition of “Row Row Row Your Boat” complete with crocodile scream from Alby at the end of the second verse.  This follows several renditions of “Wind the Bobbin Up”  - clearly Mark is coping with the post nursery Alby / afternoon exhaustion better than I do.

My fears of the two taking a while to bond were completely unfounded.  Whilst Alby didn’t appreciate having an extra person in the room when he woke at 10pm shortly after Mark walked through the door, the next day he was happy to have cuddles with daddy from the start treating Mark to a reverse sit, back hug and snog all within the first 24 hours.

For a good few weeks before Mark returned I had to remind myself that he had seen Alby walking (albeit not by himself admittedly rather with the aide of a walker).  My brain kept remembering Mark and Alby together having cuddles when he was a tiny baby but I couldn’t picture the two of them beyond the newborn stage.  Clearly I’ve been so caught up in the time apart – the year felt like just a succession of weekend reunions followed by weeks and weeks apart, that it’s taken some real mental agility to remember that Mark has shared many a meal time, walker bash and Percy cuddle with Alby too. 

To their credit, neither Alby nor Mark needed such reminding.  To see them now you wouldn’t know they’d ever been apart. As Mark and I work at being a team again, learning to have patience with each other and to make time amongst the errands to allow the other to help out etc., Alby and Mark have fitted back into their relationship without a second thought.  

I wasn't going to write this blog at all whilst Mark was home, but I think I will try to do at least the occasional post - so that I can record my boys as they go.  That way, when Mark goes back he has some prompts to remind him of the time he spent with his Trouble Monkey.  A time of giggles, bashes, tantrums, squeals and plenty of "Da da da da dadadaas".