Big girl

Big girl's shoes - wearing her new boots by Clarks FirstShoes. They are purple with lilac stitching and laces - a little on the big side but figured this is a long winter for us so they need to last!

Here she is helping with some gardening. She is a serial hat loser, this cute little teddy bear number has already been misplaced somewhere between Johnson Park and Dennis railway station. Careful retracing of steps didn't help find it, sadly. So it joins the gorgeous Peruvian alpaca one in the Great Lost Property Office in The Sky. Both are much missed.

She rarely stops smiling and chatting, except to gurn and grab Leo's hair or a handful of cheek - can turn feral sometimes! Had her first turn on the naughty cushion this week, for biting - that was a surprise.

Enjoying her bedtime stories very much at the mo, usually wants four and her absolute favourite is Dear Zoo. She does pretty much the same noise (with arm/ trunk action) for elephant and lion, and very convincing hissing for the snake! Loves her bunny (she says Bun-na). Incessantly says "El-lo" (with an upward inflection on the o) to everything and everyone - sounds quite the little cockney! She just walks round constantly chatting / singing to herself, with all sorts of sound effects like "brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" or "toot-toot" or "nee-nar nee-nar..." it's a constant soundtrack to our day. Lovely girl.

14 mnths old

High time for a little update to share some of this little person's big personality.

Angharad is toddling everywhere, usually carrying something around, frequently something that she's taken out of a cupboard. She has a particular fondness for the cupboard under the bathroom sink and yesterday I found some Clarins make-up in the washing machine, which I didn't remember putting there. Probably the most exciting outing that my make-up has had in about a year!

Something of a thrillseeking daredevil, she loves to climb and is up on a chair in the blink of an eye. She also likes to jump off the sofa arm onto the cushions, which has evolved into a full-on dive roly-poly. Hope to get a video clip up here soon because it's quite a sight! Likes to scoot around on her little wooden trike.

She is incredibly affectionate, runs all the way up the hall to Ben when he comes home and gives him a big cuddle. Also kisses everyone and waves at them in the evening before bidding them "Ni-Ni". She is a very good cuddler and likes to give you a few pats on the back at the same time :-) She loves her big bro and especially likes going into his room to wake him up in the afternoon (his afternoon nap is usually longer than hers, but then she has an hour plus in the morning as well). She takes a fair bit of argy-bargy from him but is starting to give him a shove or pull his hair and I don't doubt that once she's a better match for him size-wise, she'll probably have the upper hand!

Very chatty, babbles and converses constantly and also sings a bit. Favourite action rhymes include Wheels on the Bus, (very good at doing the wipers), Heads & Shoulders, Down By the Station and If You're Happy and You Know It. Also does the cutest dancing, a bit like the Twist! Loves to help and we are convinced she understands Everything We Say because she's so helpful at doing what we ask (tidying up, fetching her shoes, taking her bib off, going to the bathroom/ Leo's room, holding out hands to be wiped etc). Unless it's Come Here So I Can Change Your Nappy, which she obviously understands but doesn't want to, since she usually giggles and runs away if you ask her to do that!

She's an absolute joy and we love her to bits.

10.5 months

She's a noisy one and no mistake. Angharad likes to shout, A Lot. She also likes to chat on anything that vaguely resembles a phone, holding it up to her head and saying "'Lo?" or something that sounds like it. Very very busy and on the go whenever she's awake - doesn't seem to have much of a low gear - is either asleep, or turning everything up to eleven. Barely sits still long enough for stories, and wants to turn pages all the time. She is constantly on the move, and is a bit of a daredevil - climbs up onto chairs and the sofa and will stand teetering on the edge. We have saved her life several times!! She has strong legs and can stand up on her own with no support, and stay there for a good 20 - 30 seconds before sitting down again, or bodyslamming forwards onto the beanbag (a favourite game). Physically, she's different to Leo in this respect - the first times he stood unassisted it was by holding something for support, and then letting go. But she just goes straight up from the middle of the floor, as if she's on hydraulics! She loves to zoom around with the trolley, and tries to push Leo's little stroller although she struggles as it's so light and wobbly and keeps overturning. Can walk around holding one hand.

Foodwise, she's pretty unfussy, has Weetbix and fruit for brekkie, maybe a bit of toast. Likes melon, banana, crackers, sandwiches, hot cross buns etc for grazing on during the day. Main meals - pretty much what we're eating, mashed up: spag bol, lasagne, fish pie, casserole, shepherds pie, soup, rice etc. (Fish definitely produces the stinkiest nappies, incidentally). Enjoys eating with her fingers and is a constant spoon-grabber - mealtimes are VERY messy. Often gets frustrated if she can't have what Leo's having (e.g. a whole apple or a carrot). I keep telling her to grow some teeth then she'll be able to have these things, but she hasn't taken any notice so far. Other foods of choice are bark chippings, tissues and Friskies.

Update - wrote this last week and hadn't posted it yet because needed to get photos off the PC - in the meantime 2 middle bottom incisors have FINALLY appeared, with no fuss.

this sight greeted me when I got back from the bathroom last week!

nice hat

if you click on this one you can see she has her Daddy's green eyes!

Been taking fashion tips from Grandpa Graham :-)

9 months

Little A has grown up fast this month. I said in the last post that she wasn't doing a classic crawl, well - she clearly read that over my shoulder and thought "I'll show her": a 'classic crawl' was executed within 24 hours of typing the words, and she hasn't stopped since!

She's communicating loads - waves bye-bye, claps her hands and will give things to different people when asked (i.e. give it to Leo, give it to Daddy etc). We think she might even be saying her first word - "clap". She certainly says something very like it often when she is clapping. Clapping is her current hobby, and she loves clapping along to "If you're happy and you know it", and generally applauding everything.

Starting to fulfil obligatory role of pesky little sister and causes much consternation by crawling into the middle of train tracks and knocking over bridges, eating trains etc. Really wants to play trains with big bro! Always tries to get Leo's dummy especially if he is having his nappy changed - she's twigged that his defences are down at that moment. Changing one of his ripe meaty number 2s is enough of a challenge without trying to keep her hands out of it!

No sign of teeth, but seems to be managing fine without and will happily chew on pieces of toast, diced veggies, sweetcorn, peas etc. (She'll probably read this, say "I'll show her" and sprout 6 at once overnight).

Very steady on her feet, crouches and stands back up with no problem, and cruises around holding onto things. The trolley is a bit fast for her - although she gives it a go - but her vehicle of choice is a toy box on casters which she'll drive around the room.

Can't believe our beautiful little baby girl is so big and grown-up! She's wearing shoes and everything :-)

When I say she wears shoes... she does when she wants to

She always bounces with excitement when you go in to get her up from a nap.

Having a chat with Mummy

A friendly hand-hold? Or about to bend her fingers back painfully... you can never be quite sure! Check out Angharad's cot crew hanging out in the background. Bunny is the one who gets cuddled at sleeptime.

Behold: the sock is off.

8 months

Little Missy is on the move this month. She's not doing a classic crawl, but is rarely still, wriggling around the floor on the hunt for unsuitable objects to eat (this morning it was a chewed-up cotton bud which Banjo had been playing with. It hadn't been in anyone's ear but it had been in Banjo's fishy mouth. Not sure which would taste worse).

Changing nappies is a massive wrestling match now and can be quite frustrating if you're not prepared for the battle! She loves to stand up and dances and bounces when you hold her hands, and can now pull herself up to standing on the sofa, edge of the bath, box of trains etc. So her cot rail has gone up. She's sleeping pretty well and her daytime naps are getting longer - yay! Has done a good stretch of over an hour and a half for the last couple of afternoons, as a well as a shorter one in the morning.

She loves her food and has tried lots of new stuff this month. She is very interested in finger food, especially banana and sandwiches (she got hold of a marmite sarnie of Leo's the other day and had eaten a good mouthful before I noticed - obviously not put off by salty tastes. She will lunge and wrestle her brother for a sandwich or a cracker, it's very deliberate and she's surprisingly strong)! Other stuff she likes to eat with her fingers includes cheese, and pasta twists. A lot of it gets dropped in her lap but she's getting the idea. Sharing food that we eat seems such a big step forward - it's great to have her sitting in a high chair in a cafe sucking on a piece of sausage roll, or chicken or bread, while we eat. Although she is, of course, largely eating mashed or pureed food, a couple of times this week she's had the same thing as Leo for dinner, and I've just mashed hers up with a fork. We had chicken casserole the other night and then pasta with broccoli and cheese sauce yesterday. It makes my life so much easier and it warms my cockles to have them sitting side-by-side eating the same thing.

No teeth yet - but lots of dribble this week and Leo's first ones arrived when he was 8 months so maybe soon. Or maybe not - doesn't stop her eating anyway!

She's coping well with the heat - her room is boiling if it's a hot night - and has now had a couple of dips in the pool which she loved (like Leo). We are starting swimming lessons at the end of January - I'm going to take her and Ben's taking Leo. I'm looking forward to have something that's just for us two. See the Christmas album for latest pics of the gorgeous Miss A. This one was taken at the weekend when we had very high temps in the day and a couple of very unpleasant nights where the thermometer stayed above 30 overnight. Yuk. The bubs slept in just nappies with nothing to cover them, and here they've just got up.