The shout whisperers

Most of the time, once George is asleep, a little bit of background noise and chatter isn't anything to worry about. In fact, not so long back when we moved him into his nursery, daddy was setting up the baby monitor (incorrectly) and the alarm kept going off and even though it was right next to George he didn't even flinch.

It's the bit when we're trying to get him to sleep when we worry about the noise – and also at night when we're trying to get to sleep and the last thing we want is to wake our slumbering beauty.

These are the times when mummy and daddy have learned a new volume in communication – the shout-whisper. Mummy tends to use it when she's upstairs putting George to bed and wants to know if daddy, who's downstairs, has got George's milk ready (he has one bottle of formula just before bedtime to help mummy and daddy sleep longer).

Daddy tends to use it to alarm mummy – unintentionally of course – and when he shout-whispers "quick, quick, quick, come here" mummy immediately thinks there might be something seriously wrong with baby George. She races to daddy, panicking "what is it? what is it?" and daddy points to the garden "look... a fox!"

Once George is sound asleep though, normal volume resumes – until our bedtime comes around when we go all quiet again.

And even though George tries to fight the sleep, what he eventually enjoys most about it is the waking up in the morning. It doesn't matter that he's fallen asleep in his pushchair at a friend's house or in his grandparents' arms at one of their houses – the joy and amazement that he has woken up in his own room, in his own cot, beneath his own mobile is written all over his face.

And it was this big beautiful gummy grin that greeted daddy on the morning of his birthday – definitely the best present in the world. Oh... that and the mini-scent spray that lets daddy see ladies in their animal-print underwear.