Ahoy Shipmates

Ahoy shipmates. I have returned, you can all now breath a collective sigh of relief. For I have returned and have immediately been thrust back onto the plank of parenting, staring down at the sharks circling below. My crimes of desertion and mutiny by going to Manchester are punishable only by expulsion to a deserted island in the Pacific. But seeing as it's still snowing in Newcastle this sounds brilliant.

My first mate, The Chancellor, did a quite excellent job with the wee man and I think I owe her a day or two of peace and quiet. The Chancellor will probably expect that she is our ship's captain but I'm the man of the house so I'll wear the hat and have the parrot on the shoulder and say ARRRRRRRrrrr.

Away from pirates a big thank you to Ericka Waller for being the first guest blogger on One Man. If you want to read what I wrote for her blog then you can find it at http://muminthesouth.co.uk/2013/03/how-a-man-deals-with-toddler-tantrums. While you're there check out her writing because it's very good but read mine first.

To get home from Manchester yesterday it took 2 trams, 1 train, 1 taxi and a 2 hour drive. All of which I had to negotiate after a night of excesses. I won't go into detail but by the time I got home to an over excited toddler I was ready for the glue factory. It would have been though a bit unfair if I had returned home and instantly asked The Chancellor for more time to recover and feel sorry for myself. I knew what her reaction would have been so I didn't even bother.

After a good sleep last night my body has recovered not fully but enough to deal with the wee man. But since I've been away he seems to have gotten bigger and more vocal and I didn't think that was possible. Either I wasn't paying him enough attention before or my new glasses have let me see him properly. Maybe a mixture of both. But I am back on it (as they say) and already today I've had a tantrum from him but I also managed to have a coffee with a friend while he slept. This kind gesture from him keeps him from Davy Jones' Locker for one more day.

jpr