So last week my daughter hit the big zero-one, and man, it’s made me want to slow the world down a bit.
Whilst the rest of the world is wishing away the coming months in the hope of getting rid of Covid, I’m finding that time is moving far too quickly. It genuinely only seems like a month or two that my little girl was born.
A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed for a podcast and was asked what tips I would give new dads. Instead of anything remotely useful, I just answered with the biggest parenting cliche ever.
“Make the most of it, because they grow up so fast”.
Not the most illuminating insight into fatherhood, I know. Whilst that little nugget of information my very well end up on the cutting room floor though, I still stand by it. Some cliches are cliche for a reason: because they’re true.
Perhaps my daughter’s first year has passed faster with it coinciding with the pandemic. She was born in the first week of the UK lockdowns, and we’ve been in and out of lockdowns ever since. As such, our day-to-day has pretty much all been centred around staying in. Without memories of day trips, family visits and other events, life has kinda felt just like one long day.
Just as startling is the realisation that my son isn’t a ‘little’ boy anymore. Before Orlaith came along, Gregory was the baby of the family. As soon as an actual baby came on the scene however, my son suddenly seemed a lot older.
I remember impatiently waiting for Gregory to grow older so that I could chat with him and learn what type of things he’s interested in. With my second born, I’m all too aware how little time you have with each stage of their development. I’ve been making the most of the cooing, gabbling baby stage, but all of a sudden, she’s graduated from baby to ‘tot’!
If I don’t start preparing soon, they’re both going to come at me with uni fees and wanting to tag onto the car insurance by next year.
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