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What’s in a Name? (Part 2)

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Do you know it took us over 2 years to twig that in naming them Jake & Ellie we may have subconsciously named our children after the Blues Brothers?

Both of us love not only the film but also its music. Jake & Ellie / Jake & Elwood. Although I’m pretty sure that ‘Elwood’ wouldn’t have been our first choice for a 2nd boy.

Seriously – 2 years!

We, or at least I, have a dilemna of a different sort now.

They’re 2 years & 8 months now. They’re not babies any more, & for some time now have taken great offense at being called that. From virtually as soon as he could talk Jake would indignantly tell us: “I not a baby, I Jake!” whenever we used the B word.

So we now call them toddlers. But, hang on – isn’t ‘toddling’ that thing they do when they’ve just learnt to walk & are still very unsteady on their feet? When they don’t so much as walk but move forwards with their feet going as far sideways as they do forwards, & fall on their plump little bottoms a lot?

They definitely don’t ‘toddle’ any more. They haven’t ‘toddled’ for a long time. Now they walk, they run, they sidestep, they jump, they climb, they roll.

In fact we had our first “I’m not a toddler!” from Jake at dinner-time tonight.

So what are they then? Pre-schoolers? They’re not even at Nursery yet – we’re planning that for next year after they turn 3 – so aren’t they a bit young for that still?

Maybe it doesn’t matter, but so many toys & other children’s products are labelled as for ‘babies’, ‘toddlers’ or ‘pre-schoolers’, & I’m not sure what ours are anymore!

So what do you /did you call yours at a similar age? Does it matter?

Whatever they are, & whatever they become, to us they’ll always be our Jake & Ellie. I just feel privileged to be able to share in their journey.

After all, everybody needs somebody to love, right? (Sorry, couldn’t resist…)

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The Things They Say & Do: Tree-Fu Jake

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Remember a few days ago, when we had ‘Sun’ & ‘warmth’? It seems like a long time ago now.

It had a been a lovely warm day & we’d spent much of it playing in the garden, having a great time. So I decided we could have dinner outside. It went well but it was closing in a bit & there was a chilly breeze brewing.

Ellie: “I cold”
Me: “You’re cold?”
Ellie: “Yes. Too windy”

Not exactly Shakespeare, but not bad for a 2-year-old. She’s a good little talker!

Jake is still somewhat obsessed with CBeebies’ Tree Fu Tom. So he, with me of course joining in, very helpfully did a Tree-Fu ‘warming’ spell on Ellie (that we made up).  She played along, saying that it had worked & that she was feeling warmer. Unfortunately the effects seem to have been short-lived as she soon became cold again. So we did the spell again: easy!

Then we went inside.

Jake was also using Tree-Fu magic to help the ‘planes overhead fly, but they didn’t tell us whether or not it had worked. They didn’t fall out of the sky, & that was good enough for us.

Now if only we could find that Tree-Fu spell for ‘Making Daddy’s Cough Go Away’…

This is for Chris’ ’Things They Say & Do’ blog hop at her ‘Thinly Spread’ blog. Why not have a look at the other posts there, it’s always a good read!

I am Resolved

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New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t make ‘em, as I don’t keep ‘em.

I only made 1 last year:  to make no New Year’s Resolutions. Which I immediately failed, obviously.

This time of year there are inevitably lots of blog posts of New Year’s Resolutions, & I’ve read quite a few good ones.

This one though, ‘My Online Resolutions‘,  from the excellent Him Up North’s blog made me realise something: I seem to be carrying out my New Year’s Resolutions without actually having made any.

“Huh?!” I hear you say. It’s OK: I get that a lot.

Well, I’m doing things differently this year. And it’s because I’ve decided to do so. I guess you could say I’ve resolved to do so.

I haven’t actually sat down, as I have done in the past, & said to myself: “Right: this is what I must do with my life this year”. That does, however, seem to be what is happening in practice.

So here’s what I’m doing differently this year, at least in my online life:

1) Twitter. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with Twitter.  “I love it; it hates me”? Maybe! When you have responsibilities though you can have too much of a good thing. Twitter is fabulous fun. I’ve met so many fantastic people there, we’ve shared jokes, sad stories, music, films, I’ve laughed, I’ve cried,  participated in & even started hashtag memes, & generally had a great time.

‘Time’. There’s the rub, as my mate Bill once said. Working from home, & at present being pretty much a SAHD, (someone really should come up with a better acronym for stay-at-home Dads…), Twitter is always there, always available, on my office PC, on the laptop, on my iPod Touch. And there’s always something happening. It is a constant distraction; & I’m easily distracted. With baby-care taking up so much of my time I have to make the most of it to do what must be done. So often Twitter has eaten up too much time. I’ve tried just lurking during the day, the ‘no-typing’ rule, but that only had limited success.

I believe it’s known as ‘Twittaddiction’.

In the evenings I also found that a lot of the really fun messing about also resulted in my not getting on with other interests I’d had lined up for whatever spare time I’ve had.  It’s very easy to get carried away, especially after dark. All work & no play may make Jack a dull boy, but all play & no work can make Jack a bit over-excited ;)

So I’ve had to re-evaluate where my priorities lie, & as a result I’m taking a break from twitter.

I’ll still be sending tweets from my blogs when I’ve made new posts, auto-tweeting music links from my iPod, & my automatically-produced newspaper is still about. But that’s it.

Will I go back? How long will I be away? I don’t know.

Will I miss it? Yes: everything about it. What I’ll especially miss though is the daily contact with the so many terrific people I’ve met there.  So to all of my friends there: Thank You. For Everything.

I am still about online though, which brings me to:

2) Blogging. I’m doing more of it. I’ve been looking for & have found some great blogs, especially ones similar to mine: Dad blogs, parents of twins blogs, & have linked to them in my ‘Blogroll’.  I’ve subscribed to more blogs, I’m commenting more. On my own blogs I’m posting more, & linking up with other blogs & blogging resources.

And you know what? It’s great fun. It’s sociable, it’s a creative outlet, it’s therapeutic, I’m learning about other peoples’ lives & loves – some similar to mine & others very different  – & in more depth. In short, it’s enhancing my life. And that can only be a good thing.

3) Facebook. Yes I use it. I’ve never enjoyed it as much as Twitter. I have a much smaller circle of friends there, & I want to keep it that way: quality not quantity. So I’m using it more. And that leads to:

4) Family. I want to keep in touch with my family more; not easy when most of them live so far away. Many of them use Facebook. I have noticed that some of them even have telephones. And houses, with addresses attached. And emails. All of which I want to use more.

Ultimately that’s what this is about: doing the right thing by my family, especially for the sake of my beautiful twin babies. And of course being nice to my wife. I’m sure she must read this sometimes… ;)

So: keeping my New Year’s Resolutions without making any? I reckon I could be on to something here!

What’s in a Name?

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“A rose by any other name…”

“I’ve got a cousin called Rose”

“No, I meant…. Actually I like Rose. And stop interrupting”

“Sorry. Yeah, she’s nice. She’s a twin too.”

“No, I meant I like the name. Is she?”

“Yeah, her brother’s Peter”

“Peter?”

“Yeah, Peter. My best man. You’ve forgotten already?”

“It’s allowed: I’m pregnant. With twins. Did I  mention that?”"

“Oh yeah, sorry. It makes you do a lot of strange things doesn’t it? Like how you explained to me that you have to have the remote all the time or the babies get upset & start kicking you. And how I have to watch Glee with you”

“That’s right, very good.  Anyway, you said you like Glee! Actually, Peter’s a nice name”

“No I didn’t.  (OK, but don’t tell anyone: not good for my image)”

“Another Rose & Peter though, & twins? That would be a bit weird”

“What? Oh, OK. So…Paul then?”

“No, don’t like that. I work with a Paul & he’s horrible”

“Adam?”

“Mmm, maybe. He’d probably get given lots of apples”

“Larry?”

“Definately No! Wait: you’re just going through the names of U2, aren’t you?”

“It was worth a try. What’s the Edge’s first name. anyway?”

“‘The’?”

“You think you’re funny don’t you? At least I didn’t suggest Bono”

“You were about to weren’t you?”

“Yeah I was. Thom? My Dad’s name was Tom”

“Yeah, maybe: that’s a good name”

“Jonny?”

“OK, but a bit too public school. O god – you’re doing Radiohead now, aren’t you?!”

“What’s the name of the bald bloke on the drums? I like him”

“We are not naming our son after the bald bloke from Radiohead!”

“Are you shouting ‘cos of you being pregnant & all? With twins?”

“Yes, dear, that’s right.”

The debate continues…

Disclaimer: Although this is the kind of chat we often have, my wife would like to have it made clear that she’s not actually this stroppy most of the time, & that I am allowed the remote sometimes. And that if I don’t write this the babies will be upset & start kicking her.

title courtesy of William Shakespeare