The diary of Dad

It’s been a pretty quiet week for us. Not in the sense of decibel levels which have been through the roof with Robbie’s constant screaming and shouting, more in the sense that nothing much has really happened.

In many ways this is a blessing as I’ve always enjoyed life in the extremely slow lane but we seem to currently be pulled up on the hard shoulder. Of course Robbie continues to develop in many ways but is missing out on all of his favourite places, as well as seeing his favourite people. We simply can not wait to get him back to Playpalz to run, jump and generally cause havoc with all of his little friends.

News came tonight of another three weeks in lockdown which does not phase me but is obviously a little disappointing. I don’t hold any great desire to get back to work and join up with reality to much extent but seeing my family outside of a phone screen would be fantastic.

Like everybody else, I’m spending far too much time watching the news and it’s been great to see some positive stories starting to emerge. The story of war veteran Tom Moore raising over ten million pound by walking laps of his garden to support our NHS is amazing and if this story has not spread to my overseas readers, you really should read all about it.

What I find so uplifting about the story is not so much the act itself, however great Captain Moore may be, rather the overwhelming generosity and support that he has received from all over the world. It feels almost as though we have all had enough of negative news and simply created their own good story to replace it!

The sunshine has also made a dramatic return since I last posted. It has been a life saver for us since Robbie has made it very clear recently that he does not want to be stuck in the house all day. The little man will regularly bring us his shoes and coat as a very unsubtle hint that it is time to go out and play. Constantly trying to keep keep a one year old entertained is tough at the best of times but has been even more challenging when stuck in the house. I know that being British guarantees that the next rainy day is never far way but for now our garden is getting plenty of use. How Robbie reacts to a day where we can’t simply get out in the garden is not something that I’m looking forward to, so please keep shining Mr Sun!!

I like to try and keep everyone up to date on Robbie’s development too and his latest impressive act is to both count to ten and say the whole alphabet without prompting. Now I just have to find a way to teach him the word ‘yes’ since Mum and I are getting pretty tired of hearing ‘no’ six thousand times a day. I always thought it was the parents who were supposed to keep saying it, not the toddler. Something has gone horribly wrong.

Now if you had read the title and got pulled in expecting cookies, you are probably feeling a little disappointed by now but they are coming soon, I promise. Firstly I feel the need to explain myself a little.

As regular visitors to this site may know by now, I work very hard to make this blog a success and I am beginning to get a few offers from companies wishing to advertise on here. Generally I turn them down as they are usually completely irrelevant to anything that I want to write and I’m not really much of a salesman.

With that being said, I have been more than a little curious as to how it all works. I also realise that in reality keeping this blog running, sadly, is not free. I have probably reached as far as I can in attracting readers without using advertising which quite frankly would be a crazy thing to do in the current climate for a personal blog. I am ambitious and would like to reach far more people and the only way to do that is to very occasionally take up an offer to generate some cash flow to the blog itself. It is something that I have dreaded doing as I enjoy writing my thoughts and trying to make others smile far more than advertising companies but the time has come to move this blog up a notch.

Now I have that off my chest, let’s get back to cookies. There is a reason that I have decided to finally ‘sell out’ and to advertise a company, this looks like a really great cause.

Organic Vision are a UK company that specialises in healthy Organic bars and cookies. They are currently hosting a Crowdfunding page to raise money to donate these healthy snacks to NHS hospitals across the country. The specific snacks they are donating are cookies containing essential vitamins to boost immunity.

I have no interest in giving the hard sell on this but it genuinely seems like a pretty good cause to me and something that I am far more comfortable working with than other offers I have received. If you would like more information or to make a donation, simply click on the link below but please be aware that I will be paid a small commission if a certain amount in total donated.

Edit: This fundraiser is now closed. Thanks to everyone who donated and helped out with such a great cause.

Thanks so much for reading and I hope you are all safe and well. Hopefully normality will return soon and we can all meet up again but for now, see you soon. Steve.