Josh Dallas: Ginnifer Goodwin Is the 'Greatest Mother That I Know'

"It's extraordinary to have your partner, who you've known all this time, blossom into this woman ... who is so nurturing, so caring and just so cool," he tells PEOPLE

Parenthood has been a fairy tale for Once Upon a Time star Josh Dallas, and the first-time father knows that much of that is due to his wife and costar, Ginnifer Goodwin.

“It’s extraordinary because she is, literally, the greatest mother that I know,” the actor told PEOPLE while attending The John Varvatos 12th Annual Stuart House Benefit in West Hollywood on Sunday.

“It’s extraordinary to have your partner, who you’ve known all this time, blossom into this woman … who is so nurturing, so caring and just so cool. She’s so cool and she’s a cool mom. It’s great.”

Not to say that their 11-month-old son Oliver Finlay isn’t holding his own as well in the eyes of the proud papa.

“Every day is a milestone, like pulling himself up, walking around, holding onto things,” Dallas says, beaming. “He can climb up the stairs like a ninja. It’s just every day there’s something that’s a milestone that amazes you. Like holding his own bottle — that amazes you as a parent.”

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And while fatherhood has the 33-year-old reveling in the simplest things in life, there is one well-recognized lament of the new parent.

“Sleep is elusive,” he admits with a chuckle. “Sleep is a slippery devil. I can’t seem to ever catch it.”

But somehow even sleep deprivation has the actor falling even deeper under the spell of his son. “[Fatherhood] changed a lot,” Dallas says. “And it’s changed because you don’t think about yourself anymore. There’s somebody else that you have to take care of. He’s the greatest person I know, my little dude, so it’s a pleasure to do that.”

Thankfully, for both Dallas and Goodwin, who celebrated their first wedding anniversary earlier this month, most fairy tales feature a fairy godmother, or — in this case — two.

“We have help,” Dallas happily admits. “We have our mothers, [and they] come up and it’s the greatest thing in the world. They’re our nannies, but they’re our son’s grandmothers. They get to spend a lot of time together, so we’re blessed.”

And all that time with Grandma seems to be working in Oliver’s favor.

“Listen, my son is going to be able to get away with anything with his grandmother,” Dallas jokes.

— Reagan Alexander