February

F:  Well, fans, another month has flown by. What have we been up to? At the very end of January I wasn't very well, and kept on being sick everywhere. As always, as soon as Mummy and Daddy took me to the doctor, I perked up like anything. The only real shame was that it meant we couldn't go and see Sebastian and Claire. However, we did find some things to do at home, suitable for the convalescent. Chief amongst these was 'findin worms in the garden'. I am a keen gardener, and a lover of worms. I stroked him very gently. I also brought him his own sick-bucket to be sick in, in case he was feeling sick (my illness having made a strong impression on me).

Another excellent convalesent activity for the poorly-of-tummy is Banging Things Loudly. Daddy and Katy and I did some saucepan-banging, and Mummy and Katy and I played very loudly indeed on my xylophone. I am very interested in letters now, and I know that xylophone begins with X even though it sounds like Z. Z is for zebra, you know.

I managed to time my illness for a period when Mummy was required to have a lot of meetings. She is talking of going back to work. I am not so sure about this, myself, and it led to me spending a lot of time tricycling around the kitchen saying "Actually, I can't, because I am goin to a meetin at work now on my tricycle. I am goin to a meetin at Number 2 xxx Street" (Mummy's meeting had been in this street, though not at Number 2). 

One Monday, we went to a special day which was a bit like nursery, but not in the usual place and Mummies and Daddies could come to, to find out about 'how children learn through play'. I was a bit bemused by this, especially as we were the only people there. However, I obligingly played with all the things and showed Mummy and Daddy how it is done. Mummy was especially taken with the gloopy cornflower. Katy enjoyed the attention, too. 

Where else have we been? We went to Christchurch, and Mummy did some singing. Due to poor planning, it was 'all age worship' and I elected to leave after a bit and go back to the playground with Daddy. Mummy didn't blame me, and Daddy was frankly delighted. 

The week after that was Uncle Victor's birthday. I made him a chocolate cake. I insisted that it be square, and I carefully arranged about a million tiny while chocolate drops on top of it. The creative process did result in me being just a touch choclatey...

  Uncle Victor liked it, anyway, and he also admired Katy. 

K: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I am shouting vigorously to attract your attention. I do this a lot. I also blow fantastic rasberries. BFFFPPPPT! I wave my arms in your general direction. 

I am finding all sorts of jolly things to do this month, besides becoming increasingly loud. I have suddenly realised what playgrounds are all about. I like slides, but swings are the best. They make me cackle.

 I also understand some patterns of words. If you say 'One.....two.... three...!' before you do something exciting, I will get all excited on 'three', even before you chuck me in the air (another hilarious pastime). I look at the cat when Mummy or Daddy says 'cat', and I sometimes look at Daddy when you say 'Daddy'. Mummy thinks I can understand 'sister' as well, and I do often flap my arm when people say 'wave' (and 'splash'). 

After Uncle Victor, the next excitement was going to Cambridge to see the Beales. It was very nice to see them all, although I did do a fair bit of sleeping. They are all very good with babies and I was mightily entertained. The following week I had my last lot of injections. I cried when I saw the nurse, even before the needle came out - I'm really not daft. But I was actually quite brave about the actual injection and calmed down inside a minute. And that night I slept all through - the first time in a very long time - which got Mummy and Daddy very hopeful - the fools. I'm basically not interested in feeding during the day, you see, as there is usually something more interesting going on, so I make up for it at night. 

The following weekend was pretty epic. On the Friday we went to see Dr Cranfield, and then suddenly a Very Important Meeting for Mummy was pulled forward at short notice and there was all sorts of to-ing and fro-ing and in the end I went along to the meeting too (it was smack bang when I needed feeding). I was very good, though, and lay quietly on the sofa, even if I did abandon my teething beads there for Important People to sit on later. After the meeting, we went off to see Stephen and Natasha and had a lovely time with them. I slept in a clergy study, which was very superior. The next day we came home (via Colourstrings - I love Colourstrings and sit enraptured) and Granny Jenny and Colin were here! It was excellent to see them both and I got lots of cuddles (and Frances gave lots of instructions). Then on Sunday we saw them again at the Museum of London Docklands, and after that we went off to Charlotte and Elizabeth's party in Cambridge. 

F: You have to let ME tell about that bit because you wouldn't sleep and then you cried. Charlotte and Elizabeth's party was my best and I liked it a lot. There were a lot of people there and I stomped about. I also got loads of other adults to read stories to me one after another, which was really good. And there was a lot of exceedingly nice food and a cake like a caterpillar and another one like a butterfly which Victoria let me help decorate.Then we had to come home because it was a bit late and I had missed my nap and Katy was crying but I was even pretty good about that, you know. Actually. 

Then on the Monday we saw Granny Jenny and Colin some more and went to the Museum of London (not Docklands). There were woolly Mammoths and Romans and a place for making things and building tall towers (and knocking them down). I had a lovely time, and then we came back home again and I made Colin a cake which we all ate after my nap. I really enjoyed spending lots of time with Granny Jenny and Colin and kept sacking my parents and telling them to go away so that I could spend time with Granny. After they went I wandered around the house saying 'I'm a bit sad that Granny Jenny and Colin have gone home' in a disconsolate way. 

K: I spent most of the afternoon trying to half-inch a bit of cake, and have been so vigorous in my attempts to seize the parents' food that Mummy and Daddy finally caved and let me start trying a few things to eat. Mummy had been planning to hold out for five months, but we ended up a few days early. Still, I was pretty keen, I can tell you. I started with broccoli, and it made me very happy:

Since then I have been sampling various delights, mainly vegetable (with the odd bit of fruit, and, recently, a bit of yoghurt, though Mummy and Daddy are trying to hold back on baby-yoghurt because I have figured out that it is sweet, and lunge madly for it). Sometimes I just play, and sometimes I actually ingest the odd bit of this and that (quite possibly by accident). So far I have had broccoli, beans (they're a hit), potato (sort of), pasta, carrots, cauliflower, mangetout, squash, apple, pear, plum, rocket (we were out), and various bread products. Oh, and rice cakes, and yoghurt. Not bad, really. 

 

On the Tuesday of half-term, Matilda and Cosmo came to see me (they brought their mothers, too). We had a lot of three-baby fun involving staring at each other in a slightly cross-eyed intense way while our mothers talked and talked and talked about baby things. It was fun and we're going to do it again. Then in the afternoon we went swimming, but as it was half-term, there were no lessons so we all just went in the pool together. It was excellent, and it made me laugh. 

F: Yes, and I jumped in all on my own with no hands! Mummy catched me and then Daddy catched me (I am quite good at the past tense but sometimes get tripped up by the cruel practical joke that is the English language). Swimming all together was fun - although I did check that next time I would be back in the Big Girls' Class. 

The next excitement was on Friday, when Uncle John came to see us! I haven't seen him since Thailand (except on Skype) and started off a little bit shy. However, I soon came round and started telling Mummy and Daddy to go away so I could play with him on my own in the park. He has some good moves on the Big Slide. We also had a lot of fun in my room in the evening. 

Saturday was good too, as we went to see Sebastian and Claire and Little Baby Thomas and someone Mummy referred to as Marina, but I pointed out to her was clearly called Mina (that's what everyone said and what she said too). Mummy tried to explain about nicknames, but I wasn't having it - "You're sayin in wrong, Mummy." Mina and I had a lot of fun and we also had a lovely lunch. Unfortunately (possibly becuase Mummy and Claire were discussing potty training - but who knows?) I fell off the dry-pants wagon with a bit of a bang and had to come home in Mina's trousers. I was immediately sobered, though, but the fact that I didn't get a sticker on the dry pants bit of my sticker chart that evening, and have been immaculately dry ever since. I am highly motivated by stickers, which I get for 'being brave' (especially in relation to hair-brushing), and for 'nice sharing' (especially in relation to Katy), as well as 'good eating' (with cutlery). I do quite often pop upstairs to award myself some stickers, but so far only after discussion with the relevant sticker authorities.


On Sunday, Mummy and Daddy got me tickets as a surprise, and we went to see Dinosaurs Unleashed at the O2 centre! We went on the boat and it was amazing. I went a bit quiet just before we got to the dinosaurs because there was a dark bit with a film and some waiting and there was roaring and I was a bit apprehensive, but once we were in I was perfectly happy. I liked looking at all the big models and listening to the lady talking about them. I was slightly disparaging about my parents' claim that the dinosaurs could move, since in my book weakly waving your tail, swinging your head to and fro, and opening and shutting your jaws isn't really moving (not like, say, speeding across the plain chasing a smaller dinosaur). But I wasn't dissatisfied. Here I am with Tyrannosaurus Rex's head: 

I got a new book about dinosaurs, too, and a squishy Stegosaurus (which unfortunately I like to chew, so probably at some stage either I will break it, or Mummy will remove it). After the dinosaurs we went to Pizza Express and I was in seventh heaven because for some reason the parents let me have doughballs with nutella as my pudding. I was completely silent as I carefully spooned every last particle of nutella into my mouth. Yum.

After all that excitement, it was rather nice on Monday to have a fairly peaceful day. We went to the Mile End play session and had a nice time, and in the afternoon Mummy and I made bread, and some mints in the shape of butterflies to send to Graunty Lizzy for her birthday. I liked mixing the bread dough with my hands, and punching it after it had risen, but the kneading went on a bit too long for my liking and I wandered off. Still, it was pretty yummy in the morning.  

That's about it for February - but here are some pictures to finish off with. The first shows my tendency towards teenagerdom (though possibly when I am a 14-year-old lovely I will be better at washing my face):

 K: And here are a couple of me, showing my winsome side as I snuggle up to Daddy (or try to crawl over him):

 ..and demonstrating just a very little bit of my determination to be on the move. I can roll over onto my side and back again, and do this repeatedly; and using this movement, I can rotate 180 degrees towards a desired object (or the stairs, or other danger...)