So there it is, our first Christmas with children. An amazing experience really, and there is only one way to describe it, Toys. Yup, toys, toys and more toys. My word, William really hit the toy jackpot for christmas, getting everything from a kick activated ferris wheel, to a toy rocket and everything you can think of in between.

For a father, this was the coolest thing ever, so much stuff to assemble and play with. William on the other hand - well - the baby books warn you about "overstimulating" your children, for this leads to a screaming match. Previously, I just thought this was a lot of poppycock and our Wil was too chilled out to get overstimulated - but it turns out we just hadn't been trying hard enough. Crowd a room with a dozen cooing relatives, a couple of other kids, presents galore, and mix it with a bit of teething pain and you have a formula for a meltdown.


Poor little William cracked a tantrum the likes of which he has never done before. Tears, little vibrating tounge, the whole works. Definitely one of those parenting isn't all beer and skittles moments - Karen ate a cold christmas lunch.

This is not to say that now he doesn't love playing with all those toys, Wil is just getting to the stage now where he can really grab hold of things, and generally uses this new found skill to work out how things taste. He really tries to hold his own bottle which is quite cute.

He has also managed to roll himself over, although, I am a bit reluctant to say at this stage he can roll, because he has only done it once and as yet hasn't been able to repeat the stunt. Not for want of trying though....


We are still taking weekly photos of William, which has been interesting to see the changes in him over 20 odd weeks. Having 20 weeks worth of photos has also allowed me to make this collage of his many expressions. (click below for a larger version)

I have been out of action for a few days, because a head cold teamed up with an ear infection and decided to invade my skull. Hasn't been a great deal of fun, but spending time lazing around the house has brought a few things to my attention.

1. That if you follow the SMS instructions in the day time TV adds, you can get yourself relieved of some serious money. The fine print on one SMS horoscope advert I saw lets you know that your bill will be increasing by 25 bucks a WEEK should you be foolish enough to text "put my granchildren in debt" to 191 blah blah blah and sign up. Jeebus!

2. That every advertising photo of a watch in existence has one similarity. Spot it? They all show the time as being around 10 past 10. Normally I would try and ponder something witty to explain this phenomenon, but since this cold has completely sucked my will to live, I will leave it up to you. Remember, click the number next to the title to make a comment.

I'm not sure why I've spent the last two nights immortilizing my first car, a Datsun 120Y as pop-art, but sometimes you have these urges to do crazy things.

Anyway, todays contribution to the world of art from me. A Datsun.

It has occurred to me that since I gave this little web diary thingo a facelift a couple of weeks ago, no one has bothered to comment on anything, not even the spammers. I postulate there are a few possibilities to explain this phenomenon.

1. The new template is so hideously ugly that no one can bear to look at it anymore.
2. I haven't written anything interesting enough to comment on, or
3. No one can work out how comments work on this thing anymore.

Just to indulge myself and pretend that number 3 bears any resemblance to the truth, I am going to let you all in on a little secret. See up there, next to the title, there is a little "0"? Click that. For some reason beyond my feeble web programming skills, it won't actually use the word comments until someone has made one.

There. Doesn't that make you all sleep better to know that?