High hopes

X Factor starts again this week – that's our Saturday nights sorted up until Christmas (it seems to make Christmas feel a lot nearer than it actually is) – and there will be lots of talented and talentless hopefuls wishing for their dream to come true.

There are phrases and quotes that pop up every year and the truly awful auditionees, when asked "so who has told you that you can sing?", will most likely reply "my mum and dad".

Now, even though I have high hopes for our little George, I'm not going to tell him he's great at something if he's not. He'll only end up as one of the deluded wannabes on Britain's Got Talent 2019.

Actually, we'd probably like to encourage him in a more academic direction – a surgeon or a pilot perhaps or, if daddy had his way, a world-renowned composer, a Formula 1 driver or a Nobel prize winner – much more aspirational than the world of pop, TV or football.

Anyway, the clever stuff goes on apace in our household. This week we bought a Baby Bjorn baby carrier, which took a bit of working out – but we got there. Then there was the lifecast set which involves making a mould of your baby's hands and feet and then casting them into life-size replicas which you can then paint. We managed to do George's foot – mummy got her emergency boob out to help stop George wriggling – now we have his hand to do. We'll probably end up with a 12-week-old's foot and a 12-year-old's hand.

The other clever thing is George's latest babygro. It has pictures of three characters alongside the words "koala + zebra + panda = friends". Now, I doubt koala, zebra and panda have actually met, seen as they live on three different continents, but the subliminal message of intercultural and interracial harmony is definitely there – let's hope George takes it on board when he's closing his eyes and having a think.

Of course, with having a baby comes big changes to your lifestyle and when daddy was at the supermarket this week he realised he would have to make one – and without hesitation he switched from his usual HP sauce to Daddies.