We're enjoying Christmas in snow covered Bootle. We're looking forward to TTT being with us next Christmas. According to a recent report in The Independent, TTT can expect more snowy Christmases than we have known in our lifetimes so far. But on a snowy Christmas 28 years ago, a three day old Katie was spending her first Christmas in Bootle. She is again in Bootle this Christmas. But is far from teeny or tiny. She hasn't been chubbing up for a laugh. She's expecting her own teeny tiny to arrive in Abu Dhabi in March.
Perhaps 5 years too late Monica gave a book first published in 1913, Don'ts for Husbands, to me as a Christmas present. While it is a mine of useful information, Don'ts for Fathers may now be more useful. But never fear. A Channel 4 TV programme that Katie is now watching just had '10 tips for expectant fathers on the labour ward'. The first one was 'do expect to feel generally useless'. This won't be a new experience for me. Fortified by this reassurance and some child-related tips in Don'ts for Husbands I now have every confidence about the whole thing. I'm particularly struck by the following lines from Don'ts for Husbands:
"Don't say, 'That's not in my line,' when your wife asks advice about the children. It ought to be in your line."
Which is fair enough. Except, it seems, in the delivery room. Where, it is to be hoped, others will be on hand to advise Monica. I'm largely just aiming to not faint.
We just saw the movie, "The King's Speech", about King George VI's royal stutter. We have been accused of just watching British movies. Not true! We also watch British TV shows. Our current favorite is "Doc Martin", a comedy about an English schoolteacher who has the notion, "Now there's a man I can change."
ReplyDeleteNote to Jon about not fainting: I found it much easier staying at the "head end" than wandering down to the "business end".
Consider me a man changed, Walt. I have abandoned any intentions of wandering down to the "business end".
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