My Diary of Triplet Fatherhood

“Can you say ‘I’?”

“Aye-eee”

“Good. Can you say ‘love’?”

“Yuv!”

“And can you say ‘you’?”

“Yoo-ooo-ooo”

“Daddy?”

“Dadda.”

That was a few weeks ago, and at the time I have to admit I felt a little ashamed. Evie didn’t know what she was saying. For her, the fun was in copying the sounds while, for me, I just wanted to hear those four words said by my little girl.

When my girls were very young, I used to wonder every day what they were thinking. What it must be like to be thrust (well, more ‘yanked’) into this world and be exposed to so many novelties at once: colours, shapes, spaces, textures, smells, sounds, voices, people… most of all people. Even after just eight hours at work, I would never be completely sure that they remembered who I was.

I’d contrast their reactions to me and others, watch their eyes, listen to the sounds they made, hoping to find some reciprocity. From the moment I saw my three little girls, I loved them so much it gave me vertigo. Surely it was only natural to desire a demonstration of love in return?

But it was only some time after they passed six months in age that real interaction began. Recognition, signs of memory, familiarity, bonding, playing. Maybe it’s a dad thing, but as much as I loved my three little sausages when they were still babies dazed by the world, being able to interact with my children pushed our relationships onto a new level. It was like we all needed those six months to get used to their arrival but once we began to be able to bounce off one another, that’s when the relationship became truly rewarding.

I guess that’s why, when people feel compelled to approach me in the street and tell me “That must be hard work”, I can honestly reply that it gets easier all the time (and by easier, I, of course, mean better). Sure my girls are heavier, and more active, more demanding and less passive, but I like that. I find my children engage me in a way few things do. Every day they make me laugh. They make me think. They challenge me in ways that comfortable pre-parent life rarely did.

And recently, all three girls have taken a great leap forward. In the space of a few weeks they learnt colours, became comfortable with numbers and, most exciting of all, they began to put words together to make sentences.

Still, easier is not the same as easy. This morning, when the alarm went off at 6.30, I reached over and slapped the snooze button. The music stopped, but I knew immediately no snoozing was going to be possible. Voices were chattering away from the girls’ room so I dragged myself up and went in to say good morning.

Evie rolled over, pulled out her thumb and smiled at me as I came and sat heavily on the rocking chair near her cot.

“That’s was such a nice smile, Evie. What a lovely way to start a day.” I smiled in return. “Aww, I love you.”

“I love you, Daddy.”

As I say, fatherhood just keeps getting better.