Well, it’s apparently been a week since I last wrote a diary entry, although I have no idea where the last 7 days have gone. E managed to pick up Star of the Week at school (proud Dad, shoehorning that in early) and other than that, it has been a bit of a blur.
The one big decision I made this week, which I am already regretting, was to embark on another running challenge. I mean, why on earth would anyone do that in December? Well, basically I’ve calculated that I normally eat around 18,600 calories on Christmas Day each year and so to burn off those in advance I’m going to try and run a 5k every day in December. Even Christmas Day. And Boxing Day. Which I am definitely not looking forward to! I’m only 6 days in and all of my digits are permanently numb. So apart from running, what’s featured in this hectic week?
1. You may remember that last week’s top 5 began with a comment that the week had not started particularly well. Little did I know that only a few hours after writing that entry, my Monday morning would be yet another disaster! We slept in a little, and I made the fatal mistake of trying to do too much at once to make up some time. On this occasion, my multitasking involved carrying M in one arm to try and get him upstairs and dressed, whilst balancing two hot mugs of tea in the other hand. Now, as I tripped halfway up the stairs I had only a split second to decide what to save. My choices were myself, the hot tea, or my son and I could only pick one. And unlike the grandmother whose video went viral earlier in lockdown, when she saved her glass of Prosecco rather than her grandchild, I decided that M was worth sacrificing everything else for. Of course Steph thought I had dropped him down the stairs when she heard the bang and came running, but instead found me having face planted the carpet with the entire wall dripping in milky tea. M was a little stunned, but still carefully cradled in my arms. Does that make me a super dad or just the same as every other dad out there? 
2. As a family we seem to be going through and inordinate amount of milk. This means that occasionally we have to ration the full fat stuff to give us time to get to the shop for some more. E knows that M gets priority over the blue top milk, and one morning this week I pointed out that we were running very low.
E – “Don’t worry Daddy, I can have the green top.”
Me – ”Well it all comes from the same place, doesn’t it?”
A long pause…
E – “So do you mean green top milk comes from bulls rather than cows?”
Now I had to work really hard not to make an inappropriate joke and so tried to deflect the conversation, but ended up talking about where milk comes from for babies. I’m not sure Steph was so keen in my opening that particular line of discussion, as she was cornered later in the day and asked whether she still has milk in her boobies! 
3. School continues to be a source of both education and happiness in equal measures for our daughter and she does genuinely love going every day. Sadly we get very little information from her about what her day consisted of but sometimes Twitter posts from her teacher gives us a bit of an insight. This week we found out via social media that they had been working with a worry monster, where they write down things that are worrying them and put them into the monster’s mouth. We were keen to know what was worrying our 5 year old but it turns out we needn’t have been concerned! Apparently she wrote down black widow spiders and pythons. When asked, she explained that she was told they were from Australia and so was worried that (due to my birthplace) I might get bitten and die. I think I’m taking this as a positive if the only thing she is worried about is a hypothetical attack in the UK by a creature indigenous to Australia! 
4. One unexpected highlight each week is taking the bins out to the top of our street. This may seem like a mundane and extremely repetitive chore, but my daughter takes great delight in “helping” me with this task. It gives us a few moments just to ourselves to chew the fat. This week was a particularly special wander up, as E really was dragging her feet which led me to ask why she was walking so slowly. I certainly did not expect her reply, “if I walk slowly, it means I get to spend more time with you.” Cue my heart melting! We utilised that special father/daughter time with her explained all about the fact she had fish for lunch. Not like fish in the shop, but dead fish! Can’t wait for next week’s bin day and some insightful chat! 
5. Christmas preparations continue to be in full swing in the Low household as this weekend saw the annual trip to purchase our Christmas tree. This is something of a family tradition, including the photograph of the children in the boot of the car with the tree. I am trying to enjoy this whilst it lasts, as I am not convinced they will be so agreeable to the pose when they are teenagers! The nursery was absolutely packed, and to my horror there did appear to be more customers than available trees. We did however eventually manage to find our perfect tree to take home, but not before a piece of wood fell from a pallet, cracking E on the head. I did feel a little sorry for the manager, who noticed as I was filling in the accident form that I was obliged to write down my occupation! The tree is up and dressed, the homemade decorations are in the windows and E is still writing her rather lengthy letter to Santa (more next week on that one, I’m sure!) We are definitely feeling very festive! 
LawyerLow Diaries 