At the end of the summer we spent some holiday time with friends.  During that week our Sadie couldn’t quite get the hang of one of the names. She came up with all of these variations which we all found hilarious.  I’ll bet that even from this list you won’t guess it:

Aaron, aaran, adan, edan, edam (like the cheese), eyan, ayan, arun, adun, etun, atun (which happens to mean tuna in spanish) and eyan.   

To throw you off even more how about these: tita and potan.  I swear this is true.

The name is Adrian!

I'm back.  I haven't been blogging for a while because we have been overhauling our website.  Have a browse through, if you are a parent you will get it.

That said I would like to muse on the wonderful thing that is early human development.

As far as I understand, and please don't quote me on any of this because I might be wrong, babies instinctively know how to suckle and will generally know when to stop when full up.   Babies are less sensitive than adults because they cannot scratch an itch, cannot pick out fluff from their eyes and are bound to bang their head against pretty much everything in the house in a few months time.  Their bones aren't fully developed and are quite flexible, again, to allow for the inevitable bumps.    

If our body proportions were similar to a toddler's, our heads would be about the size and weight of a medicine ball - at least.  Yet they are able not only to learn how to balance on the most unstable platforms that are those short bowed legs, but to actually walk.

With such amazing minds and bodies, there is one thing about babies and toddlers that amazes me the most: why oh why, for the love of all things small and cuddly, do they play up, cry their eyes out, go all hyperactive and drive you absolutely crazy rather than just bloody well going to bloody sleep when they are tired?

I’m not the greatest fan of reality TV shows and a lot has been said about the subject.  I will leave that discussion to others as it has no place here, at least for now.  What I do want to say is that after a rough day these guys made me laugh. 

No they are not mega-talented superstars and their act is not awe inspiring but I at least think they are hilarious.  And I mean this in a nicest possible way.  They have a charm about them that makes them inevitably adorable.   

Why, you may ask, am I writing about them in a parenting blog?   

Well firstly, I may be getting soppy after living in a world full of women (my wife and two daughters), but I got that warm fuzzy feeling inside when they were voted into the final and could hardly contain their excitement. 

Second, because they were entertaining and most of all fun.  And this is what I am trying to do with this website: make it a fun place for parents.    We have to live through enough grief and there are plenty of sites where you can find serious discussions about parenting and kids.  This is not primarily one of those. 

What I am trying to create is a place where parents can hopefully find something amusing they can relate to. 

So search for Stavros Flatley on your Google or You Tube or whatever and have a laugh.

It shall come to pass where the unnaturally over excitable and über politically correct cuddly purple, previously assumed prehistoric, creature of sinful pride, manifested in eye dazzling immaculately and orthodonticaly aligned teeth, will be destroyed by the wrath of man.    

Patience has worn thin, for the incessant dance and chant of the creature is unnatural in the eyes of the maker. 

And there shall be great upheaval among fathers of all nations and they shall pursue said creature with fire and pitchfork unto its doom.

It is due.

And there will be much rejoicing and men across the lands shall be merry.

"Mara dinner time."

"But I'm not hungry and I dont want rice."

"Ok, you can have cereals then."

...an hour later.

“Mara bath time please.”

“Wait, not yet.”  

“Mara bath time, now."

"But I want to watch this..."

...fifteen minutes later.

 "Mara time to get out now."

"Not yet, I want to play in the bath a little bit more, pleeeease."

...half an hour later.

"Mara bed time now come on."

"But wait can I have my rice now please?"