Carole had her second night out of the weekend on Saturday night - ostensibly leaving me as a weekend single Dad. Curiously I'm quite glad the nights are past, as despite my habitual craving for quiet (man) time I was left with a quite unnatural sense of unease and restlessness, which I attributed, perversely, to loneliness. I've never felt lonely in my life, despite having spent seven years (yes, I just calculated it in my head) of my adult life living alone. Is this a sign of contentment, acceptance or old age? Or all three?
Despite this, Luca and I made the wise decision to vacate the house at 8am on Sunday morning. As Caroles slumber reached it's conclusion we - as in shaggy headed shorty and I - decided to jump in the car to escape the imminent Mummy hangover. The sky was clear and bright as we left which augured well for a fun morning.
And fun it was, mostly at least. We began the day with an early swim at Inverurie Swimming Pool. "I like the big bath" grinned the youngster as he confidently strode through the water, impressively nonplussed as the level reached his neck and splashed onto his face. Unfortunately this activity was short lived due to the number of bodies that arrived at the children's pool even before 8.45am. As good as it is to socialise him, my worryingly short temper got tested every time an inappropriately aged brat - there were children of almost ten years of age being taken into the kiddies pool by their clearly moronic parents - deluged Luca with yet another unadmonished dive from the edge of the small pool.
Following a shower and change ("No Daddy, these are Luca's shoes!" as he slips his feet into my size ten trainers) we drove into Aberdeen to visit the "Cineworld" cinema for the "Kids Club" film. Tickets cost £1 and with the viewings being designed for toddlers it's a great fun thing to do, even if your pik'n'mix costs more than the tickets and parking put together......
The main film this week was "Monsters Vs Aliens", a surprisingly funny cartoon film littered with gags which flew (intendedly) above the heads of the target audience. As good as it was - and the animation and storyline were top notch - we still left the viewing after less than 30 minutes. Despite it's "U" certificate poor Luca found it all a bit frightening. "Want to go home Daddy, I'm very scared" he whimpered as he dug his head into my chest.
On the way home we made a detour into a local "Asda" to buy a football for Luca. With the bright, warm (well, 7 degree's centigrade is positively tropical after the winter just passed) skies allowing more outdoor activities I felt a kick-around in the park would finish the morning off nicely. The phrase "best laid plans of mice and men" was never more apt as we walked out the shop with the new ball, only for Luca to trip on the kerb and land face down on the pavement. The picture above shows Luca back at the car, still shaken from his fall. "Pathetic" doesn't begin to describe that expression.
We arrived home at lunchtime at which time I fully expected Luca to gently greet his Mummy and slope quietly to bed for his afternoon nap. Somehow, however, he stayed awake, even after being settled in his room. "I had a nice sleep" hollered shaggy after a brief respite as he stood proudly at his bedroom doorway with a huge grin across his face. "What you doing?" came his next question as he eyed me working on the PC (on-call isn't fun). "Daddy's working" I replied sternly "Go back to bed".
Course he didn't. Don't be daft.
**Useless fact of the day - Experts recommend that 3-year-olds get 10 to 12 hours of sleep during the night, with an additional 1 to 2 hours of shut-eye during the day**
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