1-2 years Archives - The 40YrOldDad The 40YrOldDad

October 3

HEY DUGGEE, GO JETTERS AND THE CBEEBIES TEAM

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 1-2 years, 3-5 years, Events
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3
OCT

If you have kids under 5, then no doubt you’ll be familiar with biscuit crumbs wedged in the cracks of your car seat and couch. You’ll also most likely be familiar with CBeebies TV shows, Hey Duggee and Go Jetters. They’re two of our most favourite shows to watch, if you can actually see the screen beneath a myriad of greasy fingerprints and two heads clambering to get as close to the screen as possible, whenever they come on. So, the excitement of meeting Duggee and Ubercorn in real-life was as high as my hairline. (more…)
April 19

WINTERBOTTOM WINS OVER LIGHTNING MCQUEEN

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 1-2 years, 3-5 years, Events
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19
APR

For the last two years, Lightning McQueen has reigned supreme in pole position on our boy’s interest leaderboard, until yesterday, when a new contender emerged victorious atop the Winner’s Podium – Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom.

Not since The Marx Brothers has there been such a crazy and fun ‘Day At The Races’, and excited as we were to get up close and personal with McQueen and Mack at the Disney/Pixar Cars Truck Tour, we had no idea just how close and personal things were about to get. Crazy close and personal.

The Disney/Pixar Cars Truck Tour was housed in the Disney Interactive Zone inside the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit during the WD 40 Phillip Island Supersprints, which sounds like a bunch of running robot athletes racing each other without a single squeak, but is actually a full-on, high-octane V8 Supercar Racecar Event. Discounting the slot-car set Indy got for Christmas, we’ve never been this close to an actual race track before and there really is a certain vibe, buzz and thrill in the air around it. (more…)
April 13

LIGHTNING MCQUEEN IN PHILLIP ISLAND THIS WEEKEND

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 1-2 years, 3-5 years, Events
3 Comments

13
APR

YEEHAW! Buckle up and put your pedal-to-the-metal because Lightning McQueen and Mack are rolling right out of Radiator Springs and revving right up to our very doorstep. Yes, indeed. Disney/Pixar, Mack Trucks and V8 Supercars are excited to announce that The Disney/Pixar Cars Truck Tour will be touring Phillip Island this weekend!

KA-CHOW! (more…)
July 5

THOMAS BED BIRTHDAY

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 1-2 years, Events, The Baby Years
2 Comments

5
JUL

Happy Birthday Indy!!

Today our son turns 2. Simply amazing how quickly the time flies by. Why only yesterday, he was still in a cot, but not today…

It’s your Birthday! And what an excellent little helper you are.

Enjoy your Thomas big bed, little man xxx (more…)
June 30

GITTIN’ SNIPPY WIDDIT

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 1-2 years, Events, The Baby Years
2 Comments

30
JUN

Happy Days, Seinfeld, Breaking Bad…all good things must come to an end. And so it goes for my nut bag. The very thought of it makes me cringe and although we feel incredibly lucky to have been blessed with our miracle man and a bunette currently in the oven, I’m acutely aware the sands of time continue to spill through the hourglass. Although I’m young at heart, the body says otherwise.

Struggling to read bedtime stories under dimly lit conditions, I was told by my optometrist that I’m entering the ‘Presbyopia’ stage of life. A type of short-sightedness that affects us all over the age of 40 and currently, the majority of the Australian voting public (have you ‘seen’ our PM?). As much as I adore being a 40YrOldDad (*ahem), I have no intention of one day becoming a 50YrOldDad…with a toddler!

Hence, as Joe Hockey pointed out during the budget…cuts must be made. And so, with a gulp in my throat and a tear in my eye, it’s time to ‘git snippy widdit’ and book in for a vasectomy. (more…)
May 30

5 POOS NOBODY TELLS YOU ABOUT

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 1-2 years, D-scoveries, Daipers, Friday Five Funny, The Baby Years, Tips
14 Comments

30
MAY

As a new parent, friends and family are always quick to inundate you with horrendous poo stories from other parents. We’ve all been warned to expect the ‘Krakatoa’ poo explosion, but there’s a few other poo types I’ve D-scovered along the way that nobody ever warned me about.

So, here’s a list of 5 poos that nobody ever told you about…

1. The ‘Comprehensive’ Poo
Similar to the Krakatoa Poo, except that it’s completely contained within the nappy and comprehensive, because it covers quite a large area and (thankfully), just laps at the edges. Phew…you just dodged a bullet.

2. The ‘I Just Changed Your Nappy A Minute Ago’ Poo
This is when you ‘um’ and ‘ah’ over whether or not to change the nappy because it’s been a while since the last change, but they haven’t had a poo that day. Sure enough, within a minute or two of deciding to change it, there’s a steamy deposit mocking you as you throw your fist at the sky and plead, “Why didn’t you do that a minute ago?!”

3. The ‘So You Think You’re Getting Out The Door On Time’ Poo
The car is packed, the nappy bag sorted, you’ve chased and wrestled for 15 mins to get their shoes on and dressed to go. A look at the clock and you’re bang on time…YES! You strap them into their car seat and that’s when it hits you…NO! That steamy waft and that cherub grin. Like they’ve planned it the whole time. But no need to call ahead, you’ve got a toddler now, nobody expects you to be on time for anything anymore EVER now, anyway. (more…)
May 18

PROBLEM SOLVER

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 1-2 years, D-scoveries, The Baby Years
1 Comment

18
MAY

It used to be, that if our boy wanted something that we didn’t either feel like doing or didn’t want him to have, it was pretty easy to sway him off the idea through misdirection…look, a unicorn!

But now that he’s approaching the 23 month old mark, a certain aspect of his behaviour is coming to the fore…

He’s a Problem Solver!

A don’t tell me it can’t be done, show me how it CAN be done, kinda guy. He doesn’t focus on the problem, he looks for a solution and man, he has some serious powers of persuasion.

This behaviour first manifested a week ago when Indy wanted to play with Melmo (Daddy’s puppet creation and fuzzy arch nemesis. See my post Melmo! for details), but instead of simply accepting the standard misdirection, “No, no. Melmo’s asleep now. Oh look, an oxy-torch and a box of matches!” He now purposefully takes your hand, looks into your eyes and nods assuredly and supportively with some gentle but firm ‘yeps’, to sweeten the deal. Like you’ve just been mind-f#*d by a mini Derren Brown. (more…)
April 15

VOICES 2014 TOP 30 FINALIST

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 1-2 years, D-scoveries, Events, The Baby Years
2 Comments

15
APR

Kidspot.com.au are running their annual Voices blogging program, searching for the bestest and most awesomest voices out there in the blog-o-sphere.

From over 1000 nominations this year 600 blogs were nominated.

From those 600, a Top 100 was selected encompassing 3 categories;

Food & Wellbeing – (30 finalists)

Beauty & Lifestyle – (40 finalists)

Personal & Parenting – (30 finalists)

And unbelievably, we’ve been selected as finalists in the Top 30 Personal & Parenting category!!

I’m both humbled and excited by our inclusion in the Top 30.

So, I’m actually ‘humbited’ or ‘excumbled’ (I can never tell those two apart, especially when they wear the same sweater vests).

Amazingly, out of the entire Top 100 there are only 4 blokes. And 3 of us…are Daddy Bloggers! (more…)
April 14

ANTS IN OUR PANTS

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 1-2 years, Dad Mishaps, The Baby Years
2 Comments

14
APR

Two days of constant rain. Bailed up, inside Oma and Opa’s place. The backyard is right there, but may as well be a hundred miles away. Two foreheads pressed against the glass, yearning for freedom. One at head height, the other round about knee. That’s when it happened…

The stupidest idea I’d ever had as a father.

We both saw it. A break in the weather. A crack in the clouds where golden rays of light spilled down taunting us like a beckoning finger.

Let’s do it.

Before you can even say “let’s do it”, he was already rapping on the window, shoes in hand, pleading with Mumma to let him out into the sun. “Okay,” she said, “but you should probably take Indy with you.” — Fine (sulk, sulk)…

Off we go. Two intrepid explorers venturing off into the wilderness. Indiana Jones would be proud. Father and son, off to conquer the elements and take on the surrounds like Bear Grylls in Man vs Wild.

Through the back gate and out into the back paddock. Trudging through knee-high grass, I turned to see Indy’s head bobbing just above the grass-line, grinning from ear to ear. The ground teeming with life. Bugs and insects foraging, building, reinforcing after the rains. Me and my boy, collecting rocks and jumping over puddles. A true Huck Finn moment.

(more…)
April 13

INTER-DIMENSIONAL WEE-WEE

AUTHOR: 40YrOldDad // CATEGORY: 1-2 years, D-scoveries, Events, The Baby Years, Uncategorized
2 Comments

13
APR

Step aside Twilight Zone, two-steps to the left Amazing Stories and kneel down and bow your head LOST, because our little man just officially blew my mind during breakfast that sent a shock wave of “What the…” rippling down our spines.

Checking my emails at the table while Indy munched through his honey-toast dip-dip in his high chair beside me, my spider-sense tingled at the sound of water streaming into the pool under his chair. Fully expecting to look up and see him pouring his water bottle over the side, I was shocked to see it was still in its place, untouched on the table and he was contending with a chewy piece of crust.

But underneath his chair, lurking like an aquatic troll, was a golden pool of liquid that immediately sunk my spirits and made me groan internally. Oh no, he’s peed himself in his high chair.

Mumma saw the shock wave ripple in her cup of tea from my sunken shoulders and leapt to lend a hand, but upon inspecting our presumably soaking cherub, he was actually…bone dry! His fiddly bits tucked away inside his nappy and not a drop of wee down his leg hole, his waistband or anywhere in between. But I heard it spill down into the pool and the evidence is clearly…evident. (more…)