My last couple of posts have focused a little on the down sides of parenting life.  In order to redress that I thought I’d write about the nice day we had together yesterday.

Thursdays are our “Daddy Daughter” days.  Thanks to a new arrangement with my job,  this year I am able to do the school run whilst squeezing in a solid five and half hours of work in between.   This has meant I can have some quality time with my Daughter before and after school.  Usually I’m leaving the house at 7am and not returning until 6pm.  Thank you Mr 50 mile round trip in rush hour traffic!

Snow day

Overnight on Wednesday we had heavy snowfall. As soon as iBear saw the winter wonderland she asked if she could take her sledge to school with her.  By this she meant would I do my best reindeer impression and take her to school on it. It’s only a five minute walk, mostly downhill, so I didn’t see the harm and agreed. There were lots of happy squeals and bouncing around the room until iBear told me to calm down…. We then went downstairs for Breakfast.

We set off for school and passed a few people on the way, most of whom seemed to find the sight of me dragging her along whilst she happily collected snow and deposited it onto her lap quite funny. Maybe I should have been walking backwards to keep an eye on her…. Drop off went fine and I promised her I’d bring the sledge back with me when I picked her up.

Lets, go, ride a sledge

Thankfully the snow hadn’t thawed much by the time I went to pick her up.  Upon arriving at the school yard I noticed the lady who lived near us had also brought her sons sledge.  The two kids have started getting on really well of late so this presented a good play date opportunity.  It didn’t disappoint. There’s a smallish hill on the way home to our respective streets and we spend a good 45 minutes there watching them play together.

iBear was really good and didn’t complain too much when I said it was time to go home. She was freezing by the time we got in the house so I quickly got her changed and wrapped up in a blanket and made us both a hot drink. Coffee for me and a hot chocolate for the little lady.  We sat and warmed up over a Paw Patrol and then I got on with making tea.

The wind down to bedtime.

It was just the two of us for tea as Mammy was off doing an exercise class after work and wouldn’t be back home until just before iBears bedtime. We’ve always tried to have meal times together where possible even if it means one parent catching up with their food after she’s gone to bed. She wasn’t a bit of trouble and ate all of her food without fuss. Granted it was stuff I knew she liked but even then that’s no guarantee.

After we’d finished she was very patient whilst I tidied up and due to the relatively early meal time we had a bit of time to play before bed. She opted for her playmobil horse stable set and the adventures those horses embarked on (they escaped through the night and climbed a mountain, the tinkers)  took us all the way to her bedtime when Mammy got back in time to read her a story.

One Dads View

All in all I wouldn’t say the day had been anything spectacular. But, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, iBear has been a bit of  handful at times recently.  This coupled with the fact most weekdays for me entail a quick hello on the morning followed by just over an hour on an evening has meant quality, happy time for the two of  us has seemed limited. So to have a day which was thoroughly enjoyable and full of happy times is something to cherish. And I have.