Since having Thomas 6 months ago everything has been baby, baby, baby – I often stop and think what my life was like before Thomas, It was very dull and boring compared to now! I am meeting new “Mum” friends through groups we go to,  and seem to have just blossomed as a person and definantly gained confidence. Anyway thats for another blog, I now want to share with you the findings from a program that was on the television the other night. It was all about dads and the important role they play in their babies lives.

The program explored the impact dads have even before birth, it shown a pregnant wonan speaking to her baby bump the heart rate of the feutus increased when it heard mums voice. Then daddy spoke to the baby bump and its heart rate increased twice the amount! This is at just 22 weeks pregnant the unborn baby became excited to hear the familar voice of daddy I thinks that is amazing.

Another analysis on the program was watching dad and his toddler playing in a room, dads appear to use more “Grown up” language and whit during play, this encourages their childs speach development more then mum’s play does. Dads  also play more rough and tumble which tests the childs boundaries encouraging them to explore more in the world and be creative.

A number of primary school children were asked to describe the roles of thir mummy and daddy, unsuprising mummy was the nurturer, the cook and clean role where as dad was fun and dicipline. The program then went onto analysing the behaviour of parents when their children are teenagers, mums tend to use more emotion when getting their point accross where as dads are more factual and reason with their teens.

It was interesting to watch the different parental roles, it made me reflect with Thomas – He does appear to look to me for care and comfort when he is hungry he wants me or sleepy he wants my cuddles. Where as Nathan is the fun and play role! Thomas can burst out in laughter if Nathan just walks into the room. I try to be fun too but I just don’t seem to be as fun as daddy.

My mum told me that with your first baby you are always trying to get to that next stage whether it be encouraging baby to smile, stick out their tongue, laugh, or drink from a cup – We all want our babies to develop well and reach their milestones. Now at 6 months I try to encourage Thomas to sit up as much as possible, I think he’s almost there now wont be long until he can see the world from a whole new prespective – Sitting on the floor, what fun and mishief he will be getting into then Anyway getting back to what my mum said about us always pushing for the next stage with our first, its funny she said because when your on your 2nd or even 3rd you kind of do the opposite, I don’t for one second mean hinder their progression, but sometimes mums like the peace of their baby not being able to crawl yet as big brother/sister is being enough of a pain running around getting upto allsorts. I cant comment on this point at the moment, although thinking about it Im sure in the future I will look back at this time with Thomas and compare myself to how I am with the new baby. I think your more relaxed with your second, you know what to expect and realise that baby is just fine dont push things too much.

It was around 6 weeks when Thomas gave us a heart melting beaming smile, I was in the lounge at home with him in my arms after his feed. Nathan works from home, he came down the stairs as he spends most of his day in the office upstairs  opened the lounge door and Thomas gave him a big smile. Dads get all the fun times I though as Nathan melted with the loving smile from his son. He gave Thomas the best cuddle ever, and thanked him for making his day so special.

Since then Thomas has been full of smiles, especially for tummy tickles and acting silly – Some of the things I do for a smile are really silly, but I dont care, smiles and laughing chuckles are just the best.