Daddy I have a boyfriend!

AAAHHHhhhhhhhhhhh! Oh my god! Oh my god! Lucy is only three and she has already uttered those nightmare words that every father worries about and dreads. Lucy informs me his name is Callum and he plays in the house at nursery, he's not naughty like any other boys and they play power rangers together. Unhand my daughter young man. I asked Lucy whether Callum had completed his hundred page questionnaire denoting whether he is worthy of one of my daughters, but sadly the joke went over her head! I do wonder whether I will ever be ready to deal with such issues. As you can see Lucy and her cousin Evie have started on the sauce early, so I am not sure there is much hope...

Four go down the farm!

A grand family day out today in the beautiful spring sunshine. No photographic evidence because the adult section of the family Hammond forgot the camera. So please find unrelated photo attached of Lucy's seeds that she and Amy have been growing. The green fingered pair have been growing carrots, melons, sweet peas and have also planted potatoes. Anyway back to our day out. A great day at Wroxham barns. We have fed the chickens, chickened out of bottle feeding the lambs, literally pinched a newly laid egg from under a chicken much to its disgust, fed the ducks, collected sheep wool to and learnt that a goose is not a swan! Anna has had a wail of a time, sporting a new view by sitting up in her buggy clapping her hands, seeing new sights such as all the animals and has eaten everything in sight. Lucy braved the fun fair, riding the crocodile and the train and illegally going on a massive slide for the over fours. You go rebel girl! Ice cream, the obligatory daddy standing outside the shops looking like a lemon for up to forty five minutes; into the car and two young ladies quickly crashed out. Family day out Hammond style. Next time will have photos to prove it...

The girl that turned a corner and the daddy who learned to listen to his wife...

The Looby chick is calming down again and is slowly going back to treating me like she actually likes me! Parental bliss. She has been really helpful and polite and is really enjoying a week doing the simple things such as playing games with her toys. Pictured here organising the mad hatters tea party. I am calmer in dealing with her too and this has helped. I am trying to allow her to take control of things like bath time and make decisions without her bull dozing her way through situations to get her own way. So far so good. This advice has come through the parenting guru that is my wife. Sometimes it really does pay me to listen to her, only on the odd occasion though and don't tell anybody!

The one with the incredible wiggle!

Forgive me if it seems that every post talking about Anna is positive and the ones discussing Lucy are indifferent. All I can say in my defence is that I love them both dearly and equally, it is just that Anna is not a toddler yet and stropping is not in her vocabulary. At present she has no vocabulary and when she does I am sure the fighting will begin and I will have even more grey hair. Back to square one with Lucy, last night we had the most gargantuan strop after I asked her not to speak to me poorly. This evening has been better and we had a calmer more sociable Lucy to spend time with - the highlight going into the garden to inspect 'Freddie the frog' and riding her bike. Anna on the other hand is doing great and has not yet discovered the art of asserting herself. She is now known in our house as 'wiggle' on account that she has some real moves on her when music starts and she simply will not stay still. Dressing for example is a particularly vexing task at present. You have to flip her onto her back at least thirty times just to get her trousers on! Believe me that is no exaggeration! A good evening with both my girls tonight and I am going to enjoy it before the chaos and stropping begins again tomorrow. Good night girls....

I wonder what all the fuss was about!

Lucy has been a gem this week since I wrote last Wednesday. She has been polite, helpful and a joy to be with. OK, she has gently been persuaded by the phrase 'Only good girls go downstairs after bath time'. Downstairs means telly, toys, books and a bed time drink. My wife is a parenting goddess and I cannot take any credit. Looking at the pictures of the girls with their cousins enjoying life to the full I resigned myself to the fact that maybe it was just me and I simply took life too seriously. These young, beautiful and smiling faces do have a point! I analyse Lucy and Anna too much and I expect too much from them both at such an early age. So I must chill out and enjoy them every day for every minute. I have stopped imposing my stress onto Lucy at bath time and not rushing her and low and behold the results are suddenly positive. I must learn to be a chilled out dad, not tense and anal dad! Nightime scores: dry nights 26 wet nights: 3 Get in there girl. Well done Lucy!

It's all a bit of a struggle....

Lucy and I are really not getting on at the moment again. We are so similar in personality and react the same way when we get tired, we are having some fairly heavy weight clashes at the moment. Believe me, she may only be three, but Lucy is a bright and formidable opponent! I am at my wits end, I simply don't know what to do. The battle lines are clearly drawn. The arguments stem from the simple fact she will not do something when asked, we are having many tantrums, lots of leg kicking and screaming - mainly occurring at bath time in the evenings. She is such a determined little character and I am struggling to put across that sometimes we have to do things we do not want to do without loosing my temper. I am quite a emotional person and am trying hard to find some consistency in my approach to her. As soon as I feel have found a way to get something over to her, she changes the goal posts and almost belligerently stamps down on that approach. She is oh so very bright and knows when to push my buttons. At the moment I need some parenting guru to step in and whisk me away for a 'become the ultimate parent class in ten easy stages' course. Please help. Please help. We are so close and maybe that is the problem.

Girls, important note - please let your daddy have some sleep in the next few nights. Please. I'm knackered

It's Easter Day!

Lucy has been declaring it's Easter Day (Easter Sunday) all week and today she finally got it right! We have spent a fantastic day at Granny and Grandpa's house. The day had everything - a fabulous roast lamb lunch and chocolate cheesecake to die for (strictly for adults only) and a great time with the girls' cousins, including a skype session with Alice in Ireland and her beautiful accent. For the purists among the adults it was a brilliant day to simply watch and enjoy children at play. It was a wonderful sight. Lucy and Matilda rang around for hours like a pair of mischievous scamps, Anna crawled around and explored the garden - she particularly loved eating the mud; Evie teaching us inept adults to dance the 'maccarena', she was by far the most accomplished dancer, there was uncle Stu's secret and shameful enjoyment of the chick flick 'Mama Mia' and last but not least the Easter egg hunt and bag decorating. All in all a lovely day. Lucy and I did finish our day off with a falling out at bath time, but never mind. Trying to get her to do as she is told when she is tired can be a real problem. Advice needed on that one, I have tried everything!

The one with the grumpy girl, the dodgy foot and the fluffy yellow cuddle monster!

An eventful week in the Hammond household. Being a parent to Lucy is definitely a roller coaster. The first point to mention is that grumpy Lucy has returned, particularly when it is time to get dressed! Maybe it's because of her creative side. This young lady makes and ices a wicked cake. Please see picture attached. She is very bright and is constantly trying to exert control onto a situation, she is refining her understanding of the impact of choice and I think there is a long way to go! Things just end in tantrums and agitation and that's just me I am talking about. This week I damaged the ligaments in my foot, Lucy felt that once the frozen peas had reduced the swelling I was now free to wait on her and adhere to her every whim. 'It's not bleeding daddy, you are ok now'. My house is awash with sympathy and understanding! Her imagination just grows and grows. This weeks new guest in our house is the fluffy yellow cuddle monster. I have not actually seen him yet but I am assured that he is a pleasant chap! At least Lucy tells me so. Update on the nights: dry nights 15 wet nights 2. Now that is a scoreline to be proud of..