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“Alright, have fun you two! I’ll see you later,” she smiles, bending down to kiss our 4-year-old son goodbye while I am fetching my coat. “Thank you, Mummy,” Noah smiles before placing his small hand on her growing baby bump. “Bye little sister,” he adds, giggling quietly as she obviously responds with a kick in just the right moment. “I think she wishes you a great day, too,” his mother winks and he continues to smile widely before turning around to me.
“Come on, Daddy, I don’t want to be late,” he points out gravely, pulling on my hand, making me chuckle. “I’m ready, don’t you worry,” I grin, kissing her goodbye. “I’ll see you later, love. Take it easy today,” I add quietly, caressing her bump briefly before leaving the house with our son in tow.
***
“So what’s the schedule for today, Noah?,” I ask him with a smile while we drive to his primary school. “Well, Miss Donovan said that we won’t have Assembly today because you and all the other parents are there and instead we are allowed to show you our school and then we can play some games or do some drawing. And then it’s storytime and afterwards break and that’s when all the Mums and Dads will go home,” he explains solemnly as he looks at me in the rear view mirror. “That sounds like good fun. Are you working on a drawing at the moment or do we get to start a new one today?”
Carefully, I steer the car through the dense morning traffic while listening to my son telling me about his latest drawings and art projects. It makes my heart melt whenever he speaks with such passion and excitement and once again I realise how blessed I am to have him in my life. Once at the school, I get out and wait for him to do the same. Dressed in his dark blue school uniform and his curly, ginger hair, he reminds me of myself when I was a child and I smile at him lovingly, knowing that we will be joined by a little girl soon, another mini-version of my wife and me.
***
“Okay, for today’s storytime we have some very special narrators so instead of me, it will be your Mums and Dads reading. Now all choose a nice spot on our story carpet together with your parents and then we can start,” Miss Donovan smiles at the children and us before Noah leads me to the colourful, fluffy carpet in one corner of the room. I watch him as he listens to the other parents reading, fascinated and absorbed by the story before it is my turn to read. Instantly, he climbs onto my lap to have a proper look at the book and the pictures while I read and gently I press a kiss onto his hair ere my voice fills the room.
“But who is this creature with terrible claws
And terrible teeth in his terrible jaws?
He has knobbly knees, and turned-out toes,
And a poisonous wart at the end of his nose.
His eyes are orange, his tongue is black,
He has purple prickles all over his back.
‘Oh help! Oh no!
It's a gruffalo!’”
(‘The Gruffalo’ by Julia Donaldson)
I smile as all the children shout “gruffalo” with me at the end including Noah before he turns around with a huge, proud grin on his face. I pass on the book to the next parent ere I kiss him gently on the forehead, holding him in my arms beaming with pride at my wonderful son.
***
“Goodbye Noah. That was a lot of fun, I hope I’ll be allowed to come along again another time,” I smile, kneeling in front of him as the break has just started and we are supposed to leave them now. “Thank you for coming, Daddy,” he grins and hugs me tightly. “Next time Mummy has to come, too,” he adds, mumbling against my neck. “She will, sweetheart. But you know, her tummy is so big by now that she needs more rest. But next time she will come along as well,” I promise, pressing a kiss onto his cheek. “And now you go and play with your friends. I’ll pick you up, later.” Nodding, he hugs me once more before he waves me goodbye and runs over to his friends who are already waiting for him to start their game of ‘Tag’.