I took Daisy, Jessica and Eloise to try on bridesmaids' dresses this morning, and we chose some lovely ones for them to wear. Daisy declined to try any on - each time I asked her she just said 'No fanks!' and carried on running round the bridal shop. I really must get her used to wearing dresses before January; I can just see her wearing a beautiful flower girl dress, sitting on the floor in floods of tears, saying 'No down the aisle...' Anyway, after we'd finished there we went to Hollow Trees Farm and fed all sorts of farm animals and pets. Daisy loved it!
Sunday 16 September
Yes, this is my child attempting to lick the playground equipment.
Monday 17 September
We went back to the library today and Daisy had great fun sitting on the doggie. She wasn't all that interested in choosing any books, so I chose some for her, then we went to the coffee shop and she had a babyccino :).
Tuesday 18 September
A post-nap snack and a whole heap of smiles :).
Wednesday 19 September
Every time we get home, while I'm desperately trying to find my keys in the bottom of my bag, Daisy sits here and says 'I hiding in the bushes!'
Thursday 20 September
Aggie and Ellie go with Daisy to nursery every Thursday. She's starting to go for longer periods without them, as she gets used to nursery, but she's not ready to give them up entirely yet :).
Friday 21 September
Daisy wanted to take a picture and I didn't trust her on her own with my camera - and for good reason: the flash popped up and she did her best to rip it off - so we took this photo together.
I had decided only to do these update posts every two or three months once Daisy turned two, but she learns so many new things every day that the blog entry would just be too long...
Big news this month is that Daisy has taken really well to sleeping in her new bed - which I refer to as her big bed but she says it's her little bed, which I suppose it is as it's a lot smaller than her cot. For the first week or so she was regularly waking up an hour or so earlier than we're used to, and on top of that I had trouble getting her to nap in the afternoon, despite having had less sleep overnight, but she soon got back into her routine of sleeping 7pm till 7am and napping an hour in the afternoon. A couple of times a week she wakes up in the night, but settles straight back down once I find Aggie and Ellie, her comforters, and give them back to her.
She really enjoys being stroked, on her back, arms or legs, or even on her tummy, and she quite often says 'More tickles!' if the tickler stops for more than a few seconds :). She's also started playing Hide and Seek, but rather than wait for me to find her after I've counted to ten and said 'Ready or not, here I come', she runs out from her '(not very good) hiding place and shouts 'Here I am!'
Every month I make a note of new things she's started doing, then when I come to write up these blog entries for the 24th of each month, I realise that they're better explained by a video, so I spend the next couple of weeks trying to film her doing the things I want to write about and end up putting the blog post up a couple of weeks late. This month I've taken a different tack - I set the video camera running then attempted to get her to perform all of her new tricks in one take. First, though, are a couple of videos I took earlier in the month: 'If you're happy and you know it', with apologies for my very bum note in the middle: -
Next, we have the Hobbit's favourite, Second Breakfast, which is also Daisy's favourite meal of the day: -
Then there's the first of a few videos that relate in some way to Peppa Pig, which is practically the only thing she watches on TV. This is inspired by the episode entitled 'Recycling': -
And finally, this video is a montage, if you will, of the things I managed to get her to do in the same take. In order, there is: her standard response when I ask if she's done a poo ('No, it's all fine'); a clip inspired by the Peppa episode 'The Secret Club'; the Bing Bong song, from the Peppa episode with Delphine Donkey, Peppa's French pen pal; my attempt to get her to say 'washing madryer', like she did on Thursday last week when I told her I'd washed her doggie slippers; and finally a conversation about what she found in the garden, which turns into a lesson in self-adoration :).
The one thing I didn't manage to get her to say on camera was 'Got to share', which she's been saying a lot recently, followed by the name of a random friend. Today she said 'Got to share with Jessica' quite a lot; yesterday, apparently, she had to share with Harry. She also does a mean rendition of the song 'North Star' from the Peppa episode 'Stars', which she declined to perform for me. Maybe next month :).
We made the most of a Daisy-free day today by going on a lunch cruise along the Thames, a Christmas present from Mum & Dad again, like the Vineyard tour we did a few weeks ago. It was perfect weather and a really lovely way to spend a couple of hours.
Sunday 9 September
Jon and I spent the first part of today moving the compost bin four feet to the left (yep, living the dream). After Daisy got home, she and Jon looked for wiggly worms to put in the bin.
Monday 10 September
Daisy and I went to the library today, and she loved driving the train!
Tuesday 11 September
On the way home from the library yesterday I spotted these shoes. Daisy said 'Red shoes, like Peppa!' and I thought they would finish off this outfit beautifully. Until I remembered we were going to Mucky Pups this morning, which is exactly what it sounds like - messy play. Ah well, there's always the washing machine. And stain remover.
Wednesday 12 September
Just as I pressed the button on my phone to take this picture, Daisy's foot decided to make an appearance :).
Thursday 13 September
No word of a lie, this morning at breakfast she picked up her empty bowl of Cornflakes, held it up to me and said in true Oliver Twist style, 'Please Mummy, I want some more!'
Friday 14 September
I think after this picture was taken, Daisy might just have gone down the slide - she usually climbs back down the steps... :).
I took dozens of photos of Jen and Daisy this afternoon and, as ever, managed not to get any where they were both looking at me and smiling. So I chose this one, which was the point at which Jen started saying 'Daisy, get your finger out of my ear!'
Sunday 2 September
Impromptu photo session in the park with my best girls.
Monday 3 September
It was a beautiful afternoon and Daisy wanted to go in the garden after her nap so I took the opportunity to dig over the vegetable patch while she was playing in the sandpit. I found a worm and decided this was a good time to show it to Daisy. I'm not keen on creepy crawlies myself, but I know that kids' fears invariably come from their parents, so I screwed my courage to the sticking place and picked up the worm. OK, so I was wearing gloves, but still... Daisy loved him! A little too much, in fact. I ran inside to get my camera and when I came back out she was holding most of the worm in one hand and a tiny piece of him in the other. And her hands were not exactly close together...
Tuesday 4 September
We spent a lovely day today at Woburn Safari Park with Daisy's friend Teddy and his Mum. They loved running round after the goats and there were quite a few contenders for today's photo. Daisy also loved looking at the giraffes, until they all walked away, following a food truck. She spent most of the journey home saying 'Bye bye giraffe. He's gone for his food.' Which was very cute, but I wish she'd spent the journey home napping instead.
Wednesday 5 September
This afternoon we went round to see Harry and his Nonna (who's half Italian). Daisy blew this bubble all by herself!
Thursday 6 September
Another photo from yesterday at Harry's. 'That's it, you just plant one right there.'
Friday 7 September
We took Daisy to the shoe shop this morning to get her feet measured - I've been aware that we've needed to go for a little while but wanted to wait until schools went back this week before taking her. Last time we went it didn't go well, as she didn't like having the measuring thingy on her foot, so this time I told her we were going to get new shoes, like Peppa Pig does in one of the (hundreds of) episodes we've watched (hundreds of times) in the past couple of weeks. She was very happy with this idea, but I think when we got there and there was no Miss Rabbit to serve her, she was less enthusiastic. Then the foot measuring thingy came out, and this was the result... The lady helping us thought it was hilarious that before comforting my daughter, I felt the need to capture the moment on camera :). Daisy was more than happy with these shoes in the end, even said her now-commonplace phrase 'Let's go pay for it!', and 5 minutes later you'd never have known she'd been upset...
While Daisy was away overnight last night, I converted her cot into a bed. She loved it!
Sunday 26 August
Jon's family came over from Ipswich today for Daisy's birthday barbecue. Thankfully it was nice weather, as my parents were here too and we would have struggled to fit 10 adults and 4 kids in our front room :).
Monday 27 August
Another photo from yesterday as I didn't take any today. Daisy gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'playing in the sandpit'...
Tuesday 28 August
I spend most of the day chasing round after Daisy trying to put a clip in her hair to keep it out of her eyes, and I wish I had done so just before I took this photo, but I love it nonetheless :).
Wednesday 29 August
This afternoon I wanted to play with the new HappyLand toys Daisy got for her birthday. Daisy did too, but whereas I wanted to play in a HappyLand where there's a place for everything and everything in its place, apparently Daisy wanted to play 'Earthquake in HappyLand'. She won.
Thursday 30 August
Daisy wasn't too keen on getting up from her nap today, so we went into the big bed for a while. She loves getting under the covers and singing the Sleeping Bunnies song.
Friday 31 August
Over the past week, since she's been sleeping in her new bed, Daisy has been getting up earlier than normal. We've developed a routine whereby she comes into our bed and watches Peppa Pig on Jon's phone until the clock gets to a more reasonable hour. Her favourite episode is Freddy Fox, and this morning I heard her on the landing saying 'Mummy? Time to get up! And now, Freddy Fox on Dee's phone, please...'
We had a Daisy-free weekend and made the most of it: a vineyard tour, wine tasting and lunch at Chilford Hall, about an hour away, a Christmas present from Mum & Dad; a trip into London to order suits for the groom's party; a lovely meal and The Dark Knight Rises at the IMAX and a stay overnight in a hotel. The weather was really hot today, but it was a fantastic day and we had more planned for tomorrow...
Sunday 19 August
Today's itinerary was a lie-in, late breakfast in our hotel room and a lovely half-hour walk along the South Bank to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre for a 1pm performance of Henry V, then an hour with university friends at the Royal Festival Hall before going home, picking up Daisy on the way.
Monday 20 August
Someone was so keen to go out on her bike, she didn't even want to wait to get dressed...
Tuesday 21 August
Apart from a fairly major tantrum over which shoes to wear this afternoon, Daisy and I had a lovely day today. We went into St Neots in the morning, bought a couple of books then went to a coffee shop to peruse said books over a drink and a biscuit. Here she is pointing out the cockaloodle-oo...
Wednesday 22 August
Still her favourite place to sit. We keep quite a lot of stuff on the arm of the chair - tissues, drinks coasters, etc - and it all has to be moved when she decides she wants to sit there.
Thursday 23 August
Mum & Dad arrived yesterday and are staying till Monday. When they were here a couple of weeks ago, they bought a car from a dealership about an hour away, and picked the new car up today. Here they are saying goodbye to their old car. Apparently the new one isn't such a nice colour... :).
Friday 24 August
Happy Birthday Daisy Bear! We had a lovely morning opening presents before I took her into London to spend the next 24 hours with Daddy. While she was away I converted her cot into a bed. Tune in next week to see how she took to it :).
A year ago a friend told me that one was the best age to be, and largely I'd agree with that. We've watched Daisy grow from a baby into a little (very little) girl, and on the whole, apart from a couple of bumps along the way, it's been pretty painless. OK, so she's the world's pickiest eater, refusing all fruit and vegetables unless cunningly hidden inside pasta sauce or the like, and she is very adamant about not trying anything new, edible or otherwise, and she's grown quite whiny in the past few months, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised as I was all of those things when I was her age :). And at the same time, she's extremely clever, her speech is well ahead of its time and she makes me laugh every day.
A couple of examples of said intelligence/laughter-making abilities: -
Jon usually gets home from work just before Daisy's bath time, so they go upstairs and play catch-you on the landing while the bath's running. In the last month they've developed a new game, 'walk like a...' and so far their favourites are giant (first on the video) and penguin: -
Here's one of my favourite videos of Daisy, singing Twinkle Twinkle. If I'm sitting at the computer, I'll just play this in the background: -
Clare bought Daisy a trampoline for her birthday. Here she is trying it out for the first time: -
There's a lovely conversation that happens every night at bath time. Jon usually does bath time with Daisy and they have a little routine - after 'catch you' on the landing while the bath's running, it's bath, get dry, nappy on, climb the ladder (stepladder) to brush teeth, then I come upstairs and do stories. I often hear the following conversation when Daisy's getting out of the bath: -
Jon: We're going to get you nice and dry, then put your nappy on, then what?
Daisy: Then brush teeth up the ladder!
Jon: That's right. Then what do we do? Pyjamas on, then...?
Daisy: Milk and stories. Then bed!
Jon: Good girl. And what do you do in bed?
Daisy: Sleep.
Jon: That's right. And how do you sleep? Do you close your eyes?
Daisy: No. Eyes open. No close your eyes.
Then in the morning we invariably have a similar conversation: -
Me: Morning Daisy! Did you have a good sleep?
Daisy: In my new bed!
Me: Did you close your eyes to sleep?
Daisy: No, eyes open.
She's got a couple of other cute phrases that I haven't managed to catch on camera. A few weeks ago she started saying 'Genga, genga, genga,' over and over. I had no idea what she was saying, so every time she did it, I would say, 'What are you saying? Genga?' I still don't know what she was saying but she's stopped now. However, every time I say 'Genga' she says 'What say genga?'
Every time she puts her (or my, or anyone else's) sunglasses on, she says 'Very cool...'
She has taken Peppa Pig very much to her heart this past month, to the point where we rarely watch anything else when we're in the house (thankfully not all that much as the weather has been pretty nice this past month). I think it's a close call for favourite character between Suzy Sheep and Pedro Pony... she does ask to watch the episode where Pedro gives Peppa an eye test quite a lot, so maybe Pedro is the current favourite. She often says, 'That's funny, Pedro!' if one of us does something to make the other laugh, and when she's being naughty and we tell her it's not funny, she has taken to saying 'It is a bit funny...' just like Daddy Pig says. Which of course makes us laugh. Naughty Daisy!
She's started to recognise some letters: d is for dolphin, v is for vulture, h is for 'ippo, i is for iguana and j is for jaguar (she has an ABC Zoo book).
She's getting really good at singing 'Heads, shoulders, knees and toes' - I'll try and get a video for next month. This month, though, how about the Rainbow Song? This was taken on her birthday, and for whatever reason, she sings 'today' at the end, instead of 'too': -
Love this :). Actually the purpose of taking the photo was to see the flowers she'd picked for me, but as I'm rubbish at using my camera, the flowers were in focus and the people weren't, so I went for this one instead.
Tuesday 14 August
'Helping' Mummy change the bedding :).
Wednesday 15 August
Daisy's friend Mani came round today with his Mum. They were so cute together! My decent camera (the one I don't know how to use) was upstairs so I just snapped this on my point-and-shoot and the quality isn't great, but I still love it!
Thursday 16 August
I was trying to get the two of us in the mirror, but this was the best I could do before she got bored...
This was the colour of the sky when I went out this afternoon. By the time I was on my way home - walking, of course - it was pouring down. I was wearing my raincoat, but my jeans were still soaking wet after a 5-minute journey in the rain :).
Tuesday 7 August
Taking advantage of the fact that Daisy's away till Friday, I went for a run this morning, my first road run in about 4 years and first real exercise in 18 months. I then went into London to sort out my wedding ring and ran a couple of errands on the way home. I also stopped at Stotfold, home town of gold medal-winning cyclist Victoria Pendleton, to see the post box that Royal Mail has painted gold in her honour. A lady came to post a letter as I was taking a photo of the box, and offered to take my picture. She even gave me her letter to post :).
Wednesday 8 August
Didn't take any photos today, so here's one from tomorrow - arriving at the Olympic Park. In front of me was a man who looked and walked a lot like Michael Winner, and when I got in front of him, turns out it was Michael Winner ;).
Thursday 9 August
We had tickets to the 'morning' session at the Olympic Stadium, although it actually went on till 4pm. After 1pm there was just the Pole Vault for the Decathlon to watch, and quite a few people left early, but we got our money's worth and stayed for the whole session. I loved being at the Olympic Park, and now regret having sold back the other tickets we got in the ballot for the beach volleyball at Horseguards' Parade. Oh well, at least we can say we were there for one of the days.
Friday 10 August
Jen and I spent some time this afternoon putting together a trampoline that Clare had bought Daisy for her birthday. When Daisy got home she was grumpy as she'd been asleep in the car and it took her a while to wake up, but once she saw the trampoline she cheered up immediately. Thanks Clare!
We said goodbye to the Lake District, Mum, Dad and Jen today. Daisy had a lovely week (so did Mummy, with four other adults to entertain Daisy) and was sorry to say goodbye, particularly to Auntie Jen.
Sunday 29 July
Daisy has developed a liking for climbing into my bed while I'm drying my hair in the morning. Usually we sing the Sleeping Bunnies song where she gets up and jumps around half-way through, but this morning she was still quite tired, asked for her bedtime toys, and lay like this until I'd finished my hair.
Monday 30 July
This is the middle of the day, but she's naked because we spent all morning in the garden digging up potatoes and playing in the sandpit (which was very wet as the lid isn't a perfect fit and it poured down overnight). While I was making lunch (baked potatoes, naturally), she sat on the kitchen counter and practised her tea-drinking technique. Just need to extend that pinky and she'll have it sorted :).
Tuesday 31 July
Breakthrough! After loving her first foray into playground equipment last summer, Daisy has had a distinctly different reaction this year, in particular to the swings. There have only been a handful of times that she's wanted to go on them, and that's usually when she sees other kids her age enjoying themselves on them. The power of peer pressure :). Today I was surprised when she actually asked to go on the swings, and positively astounded when she stayed there for almost 20 minutes, asking me to push her higher and higher! In fact, she only got off the swing because I was desperate for the loo...
Wednesday 1 August
I didn't take too many pictures this week but today I received the ones that Jen and Mum had taken last week on holiday. This is slightly out of focus but I love it. It was taken last Wednesday in Ambleside, in front of the famous House on the Bridge.
Thursday 2 August
Daisy went to nursery today, enabling me to get the last of the laundry done from our week away. She still wasn't keen to go there this morning, and cried when I left her, but as usual, was fine within a couple of minutes. After I picked her up she seemed in a fairly good mood so we had a mini photo-shoot and this is one of my favourites.
Friday 3 August
Jon and I were remarking how long Daisy's hair is getting and that it would probably go into one ponytail, so I tried it after bath time. All she needs now is a tutu. I have one upstairs (remember the skirt you found at Ross, Keri, when we stayed with you?), but she'd probably be very reluctant to wear it. I might give it a try if she's in a good mood one day, though. You never know... :).
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