So it’s been four weeks since I ran my first ever half marathon, and now I am back, pounding the trail, one footstep at a time, one click after another.
A BIG Adventure
On Friday, my three year old son took on the biggest adventure of his life, his first real mountain, and wow did he rock it! Continue reading
Epiphany
Before I get down to the serious business of the day, may I take the time to wish you all a great, productive and prosperous 2016!
Some of you may have wondered what ever happened to me. ‘Haven’t seen a post in ages’ you would have thought to yourselves. As the title of this post suggests, I have had some reflective time, and have been working towards the results of that effort.
A little while ago I posted a reflection on my first anniversary as a blogger. Since then, a matrix style glitch has been rolling around in my skull. All those zeros and ones have started forming a pattern, and it’s taken a while for me to see the overall picture that has appeared before me.
During this time of reflection, I have realised the majority of my posts were leaning more towards that of tackling the issues of the day, albeit parent/child related, rather than the growing pains of parenthood, or the latest gadget, or great places to take the sprogs for a holiday.
Whether it be trying to raise money and awareness of SIDS, (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). My thoughts on secular schooling of our children, in the wake of the Trojan Horse scandal in Britain’s state schools. Trying to dispel the stigma of mental health problems. The plight of bloggers in the 21st century, or talking about gender equality in the workplace.
With this realisation, and the burning need within, to help my fellow humans, and the restrictions placed upon me by virtue of my ‘parent blogger’ label, I have decided to go ‘all in,’ and put my chips on a humanist project.
Fear not comrades, I will not be gone for good. Becoming a parent, is why these feelings have grown; and why my raison d’être is to make this world a safer, happier place for our children to grow, and learn to be more caring citizens for this little blue/green speck of dust, and its inhabitants, floating in this vast ocean of space.
You can expect the odd post to wind up here. Likewise if you have pressing issues that need to be tackled, I am more than willing to extend a helping hand, and put you centre stage in my new home, which you can find at the Humanist Blogger, and if you need me to don my dad blog hat to help out just give me a shout out.
Before I exit, stage left, I would just like to say it has been a wonderful year, with some truly wonderful people. It has been a pleasure to meet you, and call you my friends. May I extend my hopes of joy and peace to you one and all.
Adieu,
Dawn of the Dad.
Potty Mouth
Could this be the end of sh*tty nappies? I’ve been dreading writing this post…you know…just in case I jinx it…again.
I started writing this post months ago, when I truly believed we were on the cusp of a successful potty training regime. Sod’s law, my little boy regressed, and it became a constant battle to get him on the potty, and not pee all over the sofa/carpet/behind the shed/on the dogs. Oh, and no amount of telling me that is common with boys, doesn’t make the constant scrubbing, and washing of clothes any easier. Just sayin’.
Every child is different, but consensus says our lovely little leprechauns will begin the potty train journey somewhere between 18 months and three years. We have had a potty sat in the living room since JB was 18 months, just so it was there, visible, and awaiting an exploring mind. It didn’t take too long.
Of course, after filling it with toys, he was soon questioning what it was, and was quickly using it for the occasional wee.
We have always let him explore at his own pace, and made excited noises, with lots of praise, and the obligatory high five’s. But some how, he had developed a nervousness about pooping in the potty. Sure the carpet was fine, and the bath…well that’s the law. But the potty had been elusive, until recently. Now, although he hides away in the corner of the room to do his business, he will proudly present us with his ‘banana poo-poo!’
Maybe it’s because he’s moved into pre-school, and his peers, being almost a year older and more advanced…or maybe he has a little more confidence in himself, I don’t know. But what I do know is we are one step closer to the ultimate goal of pants!
Is it just me, or is it kinda weird having the phrase ‘always on duty’ on a pair of pants? Sure, your wife might buy you a pair for your honeymoon, or your best man at your stag do, but come on, we all know that boat has sailed when you’re talking about parenting, am I right people? 😉
So what do we know?
By the age of three, 90% of our little ones will be dry most days, there’s bound to be the odd accident, that’s only natural, and by the age of four accidents should be a thing of the past throughout the day.
It takes a little longer to master the art of staying dry through the night however, but most will have mastered it by age five, barring a few accidents.
The point is to relax and let your children go at their own pace. By trying to force them, you will create an anxiety toward a natural process that will cause you more headaches, and you will no doubt have plenty of those anyway.
The main thing is, that battle of the potty has been won, so it’s onto the next battle…trying to get my lovely little monster to pull up his shorts and not dress like Donald Duck!
Well…that’s all folks! Until next time, you might like to try some of my other posts.
I recently celebrated one year of blogging, find out how it felt in Happy Anniversary.
Or maybe you’d like to enjoy a jovial jest of digestive drama, with plenty of projectile poop, in Fifty Shades of Shinola.
Happy Anniversary
Its official, Dawn of the Dad is now one year old! Woo-Hoo!
Yes that’s right folks, a whole year has passed since my first post, A Trip to the Park, hit the virtual press so to speak. The keen-eyed among you long time readers will have noticed, that it’s had a little face-lift recently, with the edition of a couple of photos. (Finally!)
Obviously, along my journey of the last 12 months, I’ve picked up a couple of tricks that are a must have in the world of blogging.
So what have I learned over the last 365 days?
Firstly, bloggers are awesome! I have found such a wonderful community of people, who are more than happy to help you become all you want to be, and are always on hand with a kind word in the comments box, a share on social media, and even showcase your work on their websites. So a huge thank you to you all! You rock!
The last 8,765 hours have taught me how to use pictures. As the old adage goes, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’, and how true it is. The picture not only helps set the scene, it breaks up text, making it less monotonous, and more appealing.
Now that your blog post is looking cool and more engaging, you want to keep your audience on your site.
525,948 minutes have also shown me how to use embedded links within my posts. At the end of each post, or within the body of text, you will usually find three links that will take you to other, similar posts that I have written. I also put in links to other sites, which sounds odd, as you want to keep people reading your work. But somehow linking to larger, external sites, you increase traffic to yours, or so I’m told.
31,556,926 seconds later I realise I still have loads to learn, and trying to do all this on top of looking after a threenager all day, is very, very, tiring …
If you’ve only just discovered my blog, and you want to get a flavour of what I’m about, then you can’t go far wrong with the following posts.
Possibly one of my favourite posts, A Clockwork Thomas and Friends highlights the pain and suffering a stay at home dad must endure, each and every day.
When I’m not laughing at myself, and my wonderful life, I can be found raising a little cash and a smile for childrens charity. Run Fat Boy… is the latest push for charity, and I can reveal here right now that I am about to sign up for a 1/2 marathon in the spring. Details will be available as and when.
Every now and then I just have to highlight the injustice, and prejudice that seems to be more and more prevalent nowadays. Dads…Our Secret is Out is a little stab at the rampant sexism in the 21st century that boils my blood.
Well, time to raise a glass and watch the next 3.1709791983765 x 10-11 milliseconds fly by.
Till next time droogs, why not check out other great bloggers via the following links.
Run Fat Boy…
So, ‘where the hell have you been?’ I hear you cry.
Well…
The pre-amble
If there’s one thing the birth of my son has made me think about, it has to be my own mortality, and the delicate nature of life for children, even in today’s first world countries. I can’t even begin to imagine the horror of life in the Middle East, although I’m sure, like me, recent photos in the press have left your heart heavy, and your eyes blurry with tears.
Here I am, the wrong side of 40, (yes I know, even I wouldn’t believe it from the photos I post, but it’s true), and I have this awesome little child that relies on me for everything, and how selfish would I be if I upped and keeled over in the next couple of years?
To be fair, I’ve battered and bruised this old shell of mine over the years, and the little fella coming along, has made me think, maybe I should start to worship this crumbling temple, and rebuild it back to its former glory.
Do I go back to the gym? Nah, bored of that, staring at a TV screen watching reruns of Jeremy Kile, while I sweat my proverbial off. I know I’ll get back into trecking up mountains! Get fit, body and mind, with lots of stunning views.
Great idea…Problem is…can’t find any…mo-ti-va-t……ion 😔
Then I remembered that warm fuzzy feeling I felt when I raised £155 for The Lullaby Trust earlier this year, and decided there and then that I’m going to raise money for all the children across the globe, who through no fault of there own, are truly suffering, by running. 5K, 10K, 1/2 marathon, full on marathon, maybe even a few ultras, one day.
Damn it! I’m gonna do it for the children of the world that need all the help they can get, and get fit at the same time. As a friend of mine keeps saying, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”, so that’s what I’m doing, in my own little way.
The amble
Over the last seven weeks I have spent every spare moment, (and that’s not a lot,) researching, creating, tweaking and running a training regime, to get me off the couch and out on the trail towards my first goal of 5K.
It’s been a lot of hard work, but so much fun, and very rewarding. I have tons of energy and I’ve lost the best part of one and a half stone along the way, so feeling good and looking good!
Now I need the help of my fine community of readers. Yes that’s you! As I stated earlier, I am planning to start running to raise money for children’s charities. The idea is sharing out the money into three pots.
Firstly, one pot will go to a charity local to where I run in an organised event. So if I’m running in Bristol, Birmingham, Glasgow, or London, the money will go to help children from that particular area.
The second pot will go to a national children’s charity, and the third to an international charity. What I need from you good people, is suggestions of which charities you would like to see me donate to, and why. Just drop a comment on this post, or via the various social media outlets, and I will choose a few.
I am also thinking of changing the national, and international charities each year, to kind of spread the money around a little; or maybe, depending upon whichever crisis is in need at the time. Your thoughts and input mean a lot to me, so please take a moment to let me know what you think.
The stumble toward a conclusion
I know some of you lovely people are runners yourself, and as I am just starting out, I would like some feedback on how well I’m doing. My 5k PB is currently 28:24. Is this anywhere near an average time? I only ask as I’ve never ran before, EVER! I think it’s damn good, as seven weeks ago it was 40 mins.
Also, I have played about with a couple of running apps, and am interested in which ones you use/prefer.
On the start of my last 5k. To the top of the mountain and back!
If you plan on running a local 5, or 10k come the new year, for your favourite local children’s charity and you’d like me to come along, or if you have any ideas that you think could help, give me a shout, I’m keen to get as much money raised as possible.
If you’re interested in finding out more about the training programme, then let me know. If it’s a resounding thumbs up, I’m happy to create a post all about it.
Time for a week off to let my body relax, and start building a 5 week, 10k programme. Current time to improve upon, 56:53.
Well, take care droogs, chat soon.
Dawn of the Dad.
Dawn of the Dad 