So with a toddler and new baby at Lancaster Towers, Lil’ H has been enjoying some quality time with Mr L during his paternity leave. This has included the usual suspects of toddler entertainment – trips to the park, feeding ducks, running about in soft play centres but also stuff I don’t do with him like trips to B&Q, watching Football/Rugby/Golf on TV and sitting outside the pub eating crisps with “Daddy’s friends”! One particular afternoon is a highlight for me which will forever make me smile … this was the afternoon when Mr L decided it was the right time to paint the garden gate BLACK!
Luckily I wasn’t facing him when he declared painting the gate BLACK a good activity for Lil’ H (aged 2.5 yrs) to help with. It took all my will to resist the urge to say “ARE YOU MAD?” “here are all the reasons why this is a terrible idea” and instead I simply changed H into suitably old, grown out of clothes and fashioned a tabard out of carrier bags and parcel tape.
Sometimes Daddy Daycare just has to learn somethings on their own, besides I could see the imminent entertainment value and I was already having to stifle giggles as to what was about to happen! So old clothes on, carrier bag apron fashioned, paint brushes in hand, back door open and away they went to paint the gate black. I locked the door.
I ran with baby G upstairs to watch the inevitable carnage unfold from the window. Initially it was going well, Daddy showed H how to paint the gate with the dry brush, explaining what they were going to do before opening the tin of paint. H was as happy as you like dry painting the gate. But all parents know what’s better than pretend painting, and that’s real paint painting! So Daddy opened the tin of BLACK paint, in seconds the wheels were off, H’s eyes lit up and he plunged the brush right up to his hands in the BLACK paint and swung round splattering the patio, the fence and the plants hitting the brush (no painting strokes as previously practiced!) on the gate just the once then returned immediately back to the pot for MORE! There were two screams accompanying this scene – H’s of glee and Mr L’s of panic. Shortly followed by “Claire open the door…” a cry I chose not to answer … because this is what was on the other side!
