First Nights Away From DTY

It's too sad to contemplate. It's time for me to spend my first few nights away from my littlest princess. Berlin calls for a stag weekend. OK, so I am looking forward to it, but any parent knows the heartache of being away from the kids.

DTE kind of understands what's happening. She seemed to know last night that Daddy needed more cuddles than usual and told me that she loved me, when I was coming over to the shop this morning. (Holding her in one place long enough to get a quick kiss and cuddle is usually as much as I can hope for.) There will be a small tear in the eye on Friday and Saturday Night, when it's Go Diego Go time.

Another Go, Diego, Go! and Mashed Banana

She's too little! Surely DTY desn't need solid food yet! We'll apparently she does. Sleepless nights forced our hand and our littlest princess was served up some mashed banana. Mmmm! As well as solid food, DTY has developed a bad Go, Diego, Go! habit. During pre-bed feed, she can't get enough of it. We're going to have to be tough and feed her in another room as she's refusing to concentrate on milk, with her neck craning constantly towards the telly-box.

DTE loves Go, Diego, Go! and now knows most of the epsiodes off by heart. "My rescue pack..." "You need a tent, Diego!". Finally though they seem to be showing some new episodes on Nick Jr - last night they showed the Valentines Episode. All we can say is that they do things differently in The Banana Republic of Diego Land. Diego got a card from his cousin, Dora and the Bobo Brothers gave each other cards. All very worrying. Predictably Alicia had a whole pile of cards. Well we always guessed she was "popular" with the boys that work on King Momo's "crops plantation".

Go Diego Go

Been a while since the last post. Sorry! It's been a hectic time at the shop, with a couple of huge new ranges arriving. We've moved on from In The Night Garden - DTE has decided that it's for "little people". We're now into Go Diego Go. It's not bad, but we're not fans of his big sister Alicia. She had last night's episode to herself, and I confess to secretly wishing that the crocodile she was rescuing would eat her alive. Worryingly DTY also shows a great deal of interest in the show - enough to put her off her nigh time milk!

We've also been having fun with the CBeebies Magazine Reward Chart. The challenges this week are all food related, for example 'eat something green', 'finish your lunch', 'try a new vegetable', etc. We thought it was working well, but after bedtime story last night, DTE wondered aloud if she might be able to get a star for eating a chocolate rice crispie cake. Oh well.

Boo! Hiss! Cynical CBeebies Tactics

The good old Beeb, eh? Wait till they have the nation's 2 year olds hooked on In The Night Garden. Then, just as the DVD comes out, drop it from the schedule. Wow! Who'd have thought that Chris, Sid and Poi (and the new boy whoever he is) would use cynical tactics like this. We thought CBeebies was our friend.

Well tough. Me and DTE have all the episodes on Sky Plus. Ha Ha! And we wont be buying the DVD on principal.

In the place of ITNG, we get Big Cook, Little Cook. I have long standing issues with the show (check the link). First and foremost: You want to make a cookery show for children. Do you a) employ someone who can actually cook to present it or b) employ two out of work Northern Comics who clearly have no interest in children or cooking?

A Classic TV Morning

It's been a few hectic days since the last blog post. They included a TV ban (DTE's behaviour) and lots of running around. This morning however, we managed to sit down for a classic morning's viewing.

First of all, it was one of those rare occasions when we saw a Lazytown we haven't seen before. DTE was incredibly excited. This was about a Genie and was packed with classic Lazytown moments. It's rare for a second series episode to match the great stuff from series 1, however we really enjoyed this one. The song is set to be a favourite too.

Then, we had an all time classic Balamory. PC Plum got blown. No surprises there. On this occassion however, his hat flew away. Edie and Plummy had to go to the firestation (we're not sure which of them was more excited - Edie does have a bit of a fixation with fireman's poles after all) to ask the firemen to climb up a tree to get fore-mentioned hat. Everything needed for a great Balamory was there - farce, innuendo and ham-acting extras. Wonderful.

The New CD In Our House

Wow, after much nagging from TBH, Daddy finally got around to ordering the Lazytown CD for DTE. It's immediately become number one on the Conner House Hit Parade. The accompanying DVD with the sing along Karaoke videos is great too.

It's always nice to be nice, so I can tell you that cdzone.co.uk provided a great service and delivered fast.

This morning on Lazytown, local fatty Ziggy was given a lesson in tooth brushing from Sportacus.

DTY and The Losing Battle

We've nearly conceded defeat with DTY and the feeding from Mum thing. DTY is proving too hungry and lazy to do the whole working for food thing. It's sad but there we go...

This afternoon, DTY and DTE are off to a Birthday Party. DTE is very excited and has been practising singing 'Happy Birthday' for several days now. DTY doesn't seem to have an opinion. She's happy to go along with anything, if there's a bottle of milk in it for her.

A Lazytown We Haven't Seen

Just when we thought we knew the script of every episode of Lazytown off by heart... Along comes one we haven't seen before. After a frantic game of "football" with DTE (who's trying ever so hard to learn to bounce a ball), we were overjoyed to see that Magnus had dusted down the Blue suit once again. 'Energy Book' wasn't a classic episode, but did have some great Robbie moments.

DTY and feeding is still a very sore point in our house and once again we got double-teamed. It seems via their psychic connection, DTE and DTY had agreed that DTY would stay up late last night. Then, whilst DTY slept and recovered, DTE would arrive bounding into the bedroom at 5am. Yawns all round today.

Top 3 Quotes From DTE in August

#3 "I'm going to wake my baby sister up with my Harmonica" - We're sure DTY would have been delighted had DTE not been apprehended en route.

#2 "My head's not working" - Whilst suffering from a cold

#1 DTE "Mummy, my baby sister's awake"
TBH "Thank you for coming to tell me, Sweetheart"
DTE (proudly) "I woke her up with my Welly Boots"

We never did get to the bottom of exactly how the Welly Boots were used. We don't really want to know.

Many Happy Returns

DTE announced this morning that it was Rosie Rabbit's Birthday today. She's six apparently. Life is passing by in a blur for poor Rosie. TBH tells me that she turned three just yesterday. On the birthday present list this morning for Rosie was - an umbrella and a crazy crow (from Daddy's shop).

DTE is currently preferring to travel around the house on her hobby horse (which is actually a Unicorn). The Unicorn's real name is Twinkle, but given that that's what we call DTE's ... well ... twinkle, the name was changed to Sparkle.

This mode of transport would be fine, apart from the fact that Mum and Dad are required to accompany DTE on an imaginary hobby horse called U-lie.

DTY was being a monkey on the old feeding thing again, so after a bout of hiding beneath the sheets from dinosaurs (a blue one, a green one and, bizzarely, a lilac one), DTE and I headed off by Hobby Horse to watch Lazytown.

It was the first episode today, when Stephanie arrives in Lazytown. Pixel is instantly smitten. Stephanie tries her best to rouse her new friends into activity, but it takes the arrival of Sportacus to get the kids up on their feet and moving.

Rainbow Does Keep Fit

DTE and DTY were on a visit to Grandma and Grandad's yesterday. This only left time for a quick tea and Rainbow before bed. Geoffrey and the gang were keeping fit. The Cockleshell Bay story from this episode should go down in history for visual innuendo. For a whole minute as Mum and Dad did their physical exercises, it looked as if they were up to something else.

No TV For The Second Morning Running

Well, by the standards of a new parent, I had a late night - I watched England win the cricket and didn't reach bed until, gosh, 10:30.

DTY then decided that she'd like to spend most of the night eating. She still hasn't figured out the whole day/night thing. Her performance was topped off by her partner in crime, DTE, suffering an LRRS (Lost Rosie Rabbit Situation) at 2am. Needless to say, Rosie wasn't far away - she likes to explore the wide expanses of the bed whilst DTE is sleeping.

Anyway, we all wound up waking with a start at 8:30 - a quick brush of the teeth and offski for Daddy.

Last Night's Viewing - Some Retro TV

DTY times her feeds badly. Last night's shenanigans left TBH abandoned in the living room with DTY, whilst DTE and myself enjoyed a late tea of cold pizza and chips. The result of which was not enough time to catch our favourite In The Night Garden. Fortunately we have some Retro Kids TV on Planner for just such an eventuality. Nickleodeon kindly supply us with episodes of Rainbow, recorded late at night by us, for use in emergencies.

Wasn't Kid's TV so much simpler when we were kids? I did at one stage think Geoffrey was making a blackjack. "What's that, Geoffrey?" asked Bungle. "Well, Bungle, it's for sneaking up behind people on dark nights and coshing them over the head with, before making off with their wallet."

It turned out to be a far less sinister Bean Bag, made from an old sock and some dried beans. For what it's worth, DTE loves Rainbow (particularly Zippy). I might start a campaign to bring Geoffrey out of retirement. One of my claims to fame is that I once met him backstage at a panto, when I was around 7 years old, with all my fellow Cubs. I still have his autograph. Ah, the memories.

Cancelation

We'd like to apologise on behalf of the Conner family, to all viewers in the Conner household expecting to watch Lazytown and Balamory. This morning's shows have been cancelled due to bad behaviour on the part of DTE.

Everyone Gets A Wash

Tonight in In The Night Garden, resident stoner Macca Pacca decided to give everyone a wash. In our humble opinion an acid bath and a papal confession wouldn't get Upsy Daisy clean. The challenge with episodes featuring Macca Pacca in our house is the imaginary Og-Pog DTE possesses. Sky Plus must be frequently paused to allow for the collection of, or repositioning of said imaginary Og-Pog. Whilst we heartily encourage imaginative play, this makes the episode last longer than your average opera. One day, we will get DTE in her bed at her bedtime.

This Morning's TV

We're seeing the Balamory episodes from the Buki Akib as Josie Jump era at the moment on CBeebies. Her acting is somehow less irritating, now we're on our third lap through the episodes. Today, she was being a dangerously negligent babysitter. You know you're in bother if you have to ask Pocket and Sweet for child care advice.

Meanwhile, nice-but-dim super-hero, Sportacus was helping the children of Lazytown with their play day whilst, as ever, failing to spot a thinly disguised Robbie Rotten.

Last Night's Viewing

DTE isn't badly addicted to TV. We never allow her to sit goggle-eyed in front of the box. However, we do watch three shows together each day. They're carefully selected to combine maximum positive experiences for DTE with enough for myself and TBH to snigger about. Namelly: Lazytown, Balamory and In The Night Garden.

DTE is a child of her generation. At two years and five months, she understands all the principles of Sky Plus. She is well aware that live TV can be paused, rewound and watched over again. This does lead to the odd disagreement, but fortunately we're able to solve most of them amicably.

Last night, we watched the episode of ITNG called 'Tombliboo Oo Gets Sloshed' (at least that's what it's known as in our house). Oo steals all the suspiciously cocktail-like Pinky Ponk Juice and spends the rest of the episode stumbling about, before feeling poorly. There's a lesson for Daddy somewhere.

Double Teamed

One month into being parents for the second time, TBH and myself already find ourselves up against a formidable double-team.

DTY has mastered waking for a feed at the most annoying time possible - around 5 am. Just the time when you know there will be no sleep worth having left. This morning though, we thought we'd won a watch. An impressively quick turnaround, with so little wailing that DTE didn't rouse, left us with a vague possibility of at least a quick half hour's kip. But no. Using her ability to see through walls, DTE timed her arrival in our room to the second of us putting DTY back in her Moses Basket. 'Can you help me practice for the Dance Competition please Daddy?' (Lazytown) Oh, well!

My New Blog

OK, so here we go with my new blog. We've had a business blog for a while now - if you're interested, there's a link. This one though is about me and my family. So who's the cast? Well there's me. I'm Duncan, I'm 33 and I'm a toyshop owner from the West of Scotland. There's The Better Half (TBH), who will also be known as The Current Mrs Conner (TCMC), just to annoy her. Next we have Daughter The Eldest (DTE) - she's 2 years 5 months - and finally Daughter The Youngest (DTY), aged 1 month. I hope you'll enjoy our adventures.