Lilitoto is the name my son has given to his Thomas the Tank Engine

More precisely, it’s the name given to his small Thomas The Tank Engine. Or it was until quite recently. Now he can get his tongue around ‘Tomm-us”.  So ‘lilitoto’ is already something that has been lost from his vocabulary to be replaced temporarily by ‘lilli Tomm-us’. A slight tongue-tie at birth amplifies the difficulty that most small children have pronouncing some characters of the alphabet.

This blog is about capturing the small things that happen that I want to remember but worry I’ll forget. It’s also a record for my children to look back on – to let them know what was going on in their Dad’s head at the time.

Teddy is nearly three years old so why now? Well my own Dad died just over a year ago. He knew my son when he was only 18 months old. He missed the birth of his grandaughter last Tuesday and neither my son or daughter will have any real understanding of their grandfather. There is very little record of him beyond some 8mm film taken over 40 years ago and boxes of black and white and colour photos in varying states of decomposition. My Mum is still alive and provides anecdotal evidence but memory plays tricks on everyone and the narrative is inevitably patchy in places. She was always a better story teller than my Dad but it’s her take on things rather than his.

The narrative can never be complete unless one is prepared to account for every waking moment. But who would have the time or inclination to follow it. Instead what I want to hand on is the intermittent snapshots with a commentary that’s mine.