The picture above is of Dipsy. On the off-chance you’ve never come across him before, Dipsy is a Teletubby, off of the TV show ‘Teletubbies’. I say ‘he’ although I wasn’t sure before I started writing this if Teletubbies had specific genders and, if so, what specific gender Dispsy was. But I’ve checked, because the…
Tag: parenthood
Ducks Versus Puddles (Round 2)
Last week we explored the efficacy of ducks (or more accurately geese, which aren’t ducks) at hindering my morning run, in comparison to puddles. That round went to puddles. Let’s see if ducks (and associated waterfowl) can level things up this week. Prior to current world events, I would often take my daughter to…
Cat
After the critical acclaim my daughter and I enjoyed last week with our debut collaboration, ‘Helicopter‘, we’re back this week with another of our artistic offerings. This week, Little Proclaims was keen to show another side of her, quite formidable, talents and has offered a more aggressive, almost brutal, palette to complement the elementary template…
I Am Your Father
Don’t be fooled by the title of the post – unless you are my almost-two-year-old daughter, I am not your father. And I’m pretty sure you’re not my daughter because, precocious though she appears to be, she can’t yet read. To the best of my knowledge anyway. But today is Fathers Day and, as of…
Helicopter
It’s been a little over two years since I troubled the blogosphere with one of my not-very-good drawings. But, though my artistic talents have not improved in that time, I have acquired a new fan of my doodles. Little Proclaims is quite keen on drawing too, although much of her work appears to be from…
An Overly Long Post About An Underwhelming Return To Running After Quite A Few Years Of Not Running
Note – I started writing this on Sunday, but didn’t get around to finishing it until today. So every reference to ‘today’, with the exception of the one in the previous sentence, actually refers to Sunday. Not that it matters, but I’d hate for you to feel in any way deceived. Today, according to my…
My Toddler Thinks I’m An Idiot
I think I’ve mentioned it before on this blog, but wife and I are attempting to bring our daughter up to be bilingual. This stems from our own love of languages – both of us have an undergraduate degree in French Studies. Indeed, that is how we met in the first place. Having said that,…
James Complains About Nanny Plum’s Wand
My daughter’s increasing vocabulary is, I think, quite impressive. Even if we allow for a natural parental bias, of which I am happy to accept I am almost certainly guilty, I think Little Proclaims can say an awful lot for a twenty-month old. And thanks to a relentless effort on the part of Mrs Proclaims…
Cautionary Tales
As the parent of a small child, I’m not unfamiliar with a children’s story or two. My daughter has a voracious appetite for literature. I mean quite literally, as I’ll often find her nibbling on a book. Although she does appear to be growing out of that phase and enjoying books for their content too.…
Pandemical Positives
No-one loves a pandemic more than me. Then again, no-one loves a pandemic less than me. Because, presumably, no-one loves a pandemic. Except possibly toilet-paper manufacturers. But, on the whole, it’s fair to say that this whole pandemic malarkey is pretty bad news. Nevertheless, if you can shake off the never-ending panic and crippling fear…
Surely Monday the 13th is as bad as Friday the 13th? Or worse? Cos it’s Monday….
It’s the second Monday in January and Christmas is now but a distant memory. Although my bank balance might disagree and pay day does seem to be a frighteningly long time away. Also, my 17-month-old daughter, who is continuing to make impressive leaps in terms of her vocabulary acquisition and likes to make use of…
The (Fairly Predictable) James Proclaims New Year’s Eve Review Of The Year That Was And Indeed The Decade That Was
As this is very much the last day of 2019 it behoves me to write about the year that has just happened. But because 2019 ends in a ‘9’ it behoves me to write about the last decade too. There is always some debate that the new decade doesn’t start until the beginning of a…
T’isn’t The Season… But T’will Be Soon
And so here we are, a month from Christmas and soon the traditions of the season will be upon us. Although, as is the case most years, I’ve been honouring one custom since around mid-October. Which is the eating of mince pies. I love a good mince pie, but in all honesty, there is…
Don’t Call It A Comeback
It is the 18th November, which quite possibly means that Christmas is nearly upon us. It also means that I haven’t troubled the blogosphere for a good four months. At least I imagine it’s been a good four months if you really don’t like my writing. But then I would hypothesise that you wouldn’t be…
James Complains About A Loss Of Power
There’s no getting away from it – this post is an absolute shambles. This is partly because I started writing it on the 27th August and didn’t finish it. I genuinely meant to finish it, but I didn’t. And the bit I wrote on the 27th August doesn’t tell the whole story, but now so…