Ghosts of Christmas past...

Coming down from the festive period is never easy. To counteract that this year we decided to throw caution to the wind and keep the tree up for an extra week or so. Besides, Emily loved all the lights, and keeping an increasingly demanding Supreme Being happy is always a winner.

And illuminating the tree for longer seems to have kept us all cheery through the first fortnight of January, which were as usual very dark in Glasgow, and this year particularly stormy. Seeing Emily rush into the lounge every morning pointing to the lights to be put on brings a smile to my face every time. Let's just hope the superstitions about Twelth Night aren't true!

Whilst we were down visiting my brother at Christmas my Mum gave me my Grandmas chair from when she was little. I have really fond memories of my Grandma, so much so it was one of the reasons we picked Emily as a name, after the lovely lady. Grandma Emmie was a tad mischievious though and had a great sense of humour - a bit like her young namesake. So much so she naughtily scratched her name onto her chair when she was a small child. So there you have it, young Emi gets to sit on old Emmie's chair, and it already had her name on it. Carved in over 100 years ago. To top it all the Supreme Being now fits perfectly into the cardigan my sister started knitting before she died, and finished by my niece some years later. It truly was the Ghost of Christmas past...

Ghosts of Christmas past...

Around this time children often start to say their first few words. Our lovely daughter is so far a lady of few spoken words, although she seems to understand many. In fact when I say few, I mean one - she can say the word "No". The technical name for a child's fascination with the word "no" is "toddler refusal" - and apparently toddlers say "no" simply because they can. They've just found out that they have a will, and they want to exercise it. It's the start of a developing independence.

It really is quite amusing though. To hear someone so tiny come out with such a forthright and strong stance on things makes me smile every time. She really is developing her character, and I have no doubt she will be quite formidable when the time comes. I personally believe that this strength of character comes from Mummy. Remind me to stay out the way though if there is ever a battle of wills between the two of them - the Unstoppable Force meets the Immovable Mountain - should be one for a ringside seat!

Videoclip: A father's lot in life...