Thirty-Four Months

News (or not) this month is that Daisy is still not ready to potty train. Believe me, I've tried to persuade her, but she just won't do it, so we'll leave it for now and try again in a month or so. I'm conscious that a) she's nearly three, b) she's advanced in lots of ways and c) we have a very busy summer planned, including moving house in September (fingers crossed), but you just can't rush these things...

We spent the first week of Daisy's thirty-fourth month on holiday with Jon's family in Littleport, about an hour away. We had a great week and Daisy really enjoyed having Jessica, Finn and Eloise to play with. She shared a room with Jess and Eloise and felt very grown up :).

There was a piano in the holiday house, and Daisy was happy to show us her talents in this area, despite the fact that the piano was horribly out of tune. Here's a video - I love that she's 'playing' a story book, but still needs the pages turning... Apologies to Brenda, who won't like the fact that she can be heard saying 'We've got a bottle of rosé' in the background :).

Sticking with the musical theme, I caught her singing 'Go the Distance' from Hercules while coming down the stairs one morning on holiday. I ran to get the video camera but when I got back she wasn't keen on repeating her performance, so I did what any parent would do in that situation - bribed her.

She's learning lots from nursery, including the days of the week which I haven't got on video yet, but I'll do it for next month. Instead, here's her rendition of 'Walking through the Jungle', which they sing at nursery a lot: -

Her new favourite DVD is 'Spicable Me', and she loves joining in with the dancing at the end. She's a bit more subdued than normal in this video (typical), and doesn't do the bottom thing that Vector does on the moon, but she copies all the other moves...

And finally, here's a video I shot the other day of her making herself laugh: -

What started out as a little quirk of hers is slowly but surely becoming more obsessive-compulsive in nature - she has certain things that must be done in a particular order. For example, when she plays tea parties, everyone always has to have the same colour crockery: Daisy has pink, Mummy has blue, Dee has purple, Jen has yellow, etc. Last weekend we lost the purple plate and Daisy couldn't quite compute that instead of Jon not having a plate, he could just use Jen's, as she wasn't there. She quite often says 'Would you like to pick one?' when she's set out the tea party, and if I ask for a colour other than blue, she tells me I can't have it because it belongs to someone else... Another example is that I asked her to draw a picture the other day, and she drew a multi-coloured picture but she picked up the coloured pencils in rainbow order: red first, then orange, then yellow, green, blue and purple. Then she started with red again. She has a box of Charlie & Lola books that she likes to read before bedtime, but they must always be read in the same order: first the yellow one, about playing, then blue, about having lunch, then the green one, about getting up, and lastly the orange one about going to bed. Woe betide anyone who tries to change the order...

Finally for this month, the other day she was doing something a bit weird, I forget what it was, but I said 'What are you doing, you crazy child?' Her reply was 'I'm not a crazy child, I'm a bossy boots!'

Thirty-Three Months

Phew! So late with this month's post (although you won't know it because it's got the right date stamp)...

Daisy continues to love nursery, which is great as it really was getting quite heart-wrenching to see her cry every time we went. She is getting slowly more confident - still a long way to go, though! One thing she's been doing for a few months but I keep forgetting to write about it is when she wants picking up or a cuddle, she says 'You want me?' which I guess is her just copying what I say to her. It's very cute. She also asks me what she wants a lot, which again is just copying what I say to her: -

'What do I want, Mummy?'
'I don't know, Daisy, what do you want?'
'How 'bout... a biscuit?'

I think she thinks the phrase 'Oopsy Daisy' is specifically for her, because I've heard her plenty of times say 'Oopsy me' or 'Oopsy Mummy'. I haven't managed to get it on video, but here's something I did manage to get: the newest pre-bedtime craze, with thanks to Jon for teaching her this one: -

You'll notice from that video that we still have our Christmas decoration in the fireplace. Actually at the time of writing the post, it's now been put in the attic, partly because it's not Christmas any more but mainly because Daisy wouldn't stop messing with the plug at the wall, turning on the lights to 'make it Christmas'.

Another thing she still hasn't stopped doing is providing a musical commentary to mealtimes.  Seriously, it's getting quite annoying now...

On the subject of mealtimes, here she is explaining to Jen where the contents of her breakfast plate come from: -

And finally for this month, a slightly more musical number - during which she decides to combine two versions of the song into one: -

I've stopped telling people she's 'two and a half' and have started saying 'nearly three'. Where did my baby go????

Thirty-Two Months

Woohoo! Breakthrough news for this month is that having cried every Thursday morning (nursery day) for nearly a year, and every Tuesday as well for the last two months, Daisy now LOVES going to nursery! I always wait until the last minute to tell her she's going to nursery, as there's no point in listening to her cry for longer than is necessary :). Last Tuesday, however, she asked me at about 07:30 what we were doing that day. I told her that it was nursery in the morning, then we would do something together in the afternoon. She looked at me and I braced myself for tears, then she said 'My friend Isabella's at nursery. Let's go and find her.' I said OK, and asked her who her other friends were at nursery, and she happily named half a dozen children in her group. When it came time to leave the house, I asked if she wanted me to carry her, as I always have done, and she said 'No, I walk.' So we walked to nursery, and when I left her she gave me a kiss and a smile and went off to play. I wondered if it was a one-off until she did the same on Thursday, then this week she's been desperate to go to nursery - to the extent that on Monday, not a nursery day, she cried because she wanted to go and couldn't!

In other news, but still along the same lines, I mentioned to her on Monday that it was about time we went to have her feet measured at the shoe shop, and she asked if we could go straight away. This is the child who, last time we went to get her feet measured at the shoe shop, did this: -

That was last September, the third time we'd been and the third time she'd cried. So I did the groundwork by telling her that the lady would put something on her foot to see how big it was, and there would be lots of numbers on it that she could look for. She seemed fine, but then she seemed fine the last three times before the stranger with the foot measurer appeared. This time, however, she really was fine! No tears, she sat still and was great while the lady (who I told not to be surprised when I introduced her to Daisy as Miss Rabbit) measured her feet, and she tried on three or four pairs of shoes before getting bored. We bought some lovely new red shoes, just like Peppa Pig buys when she goes to Miss Rabbit's shoe shop, and she's been showing them off ever since. And also tripping over in them, as she's not used to them :).

A couple of cute things she's said this month, in case you missed them on Facebook: -

Daisy:'I winned!'
Jon: 'You won, Daisy.'
Daisy: 'No, I'm two!'

Daisy (who has so far shown no interest whatsoever in potty training): 'Mummy, where are you going?'
Jon: 'Mummy's going for a wee on the toilet. Does Daisy do wees on the toilet?'
D: 'No...'
J: 'Where do you do your wees?'
D: 'In the bath.'

Talking of potty training, I do keep thinking that it's about time she started, but I spoke to one of the Mums at toddlers last week who's a nursery nurse and when I told her that Daisy doesn't acknowledge that she's done a poo, even when I've checked her nappy and know she has, she said that there's no point in trying to potty train her yet as it will be really hard work. So we'll leave it for a little while.  What I didn't realise until this Mum told me was that the average age for potty training is three, which surprised me, but made me feel better that at two years and eight months, Daisy's not there yet. She'll get there in the end, and in the meantime changing nappies is no big deal. Perhaps we'll try in the summer.

I finally set up an iPod and our travel speaker in Daisy's room last week, so she could listen to her new Peppa Pig Nursery Rhymes and Songs CD while reading along with the picture book. She loves it, and last night I set up the camera to record her singing along with Peppa. She was very tired and not always keen to sing, but I did manage to get the following: -

Incy Wincy Spider: -

This Little Piggy: -

The Birdy Birdy Woof Woof Song: -

In the words of Peppa, that's enough singing for today.  Goodnight!

Thirty-One Months

After a shaky, tantrum-infused start to her thirty-first month, we've had a really lovely past few weeks. Although she's not exactly the most obedient child in the world, she is surprisingly obliging when I ask her for kisses, and always stops what she's doing, comes over to me and plants a kiss on my mouth. I think there's an example of this at the end of the jigsaw video below. Plus, when I ask her who's the most beautiful, she says 'Daisy and Mummy' :).

The Christmas Mickey Mouse DVD that Nanna & Grandpa bought her has been a constant feature this month, to the extent that she can recite almost all of it by heart. There's one segment where Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse compete in an ice-skating competition, and she mimics all the moves, including skating round the room, hugging the mantelpiece when they hug, clasping her mouth shut when Daisy Duck does that to Donald and lying on the floor with her mouth open when the crocodiles do that. Oh yes, there are crocodiles ;). The funniest Christmas Mickey-themed phrase she's come out with this month was when we were getting in the car one day, and she looked at me and said, very sincerely, 'Mummy, what about the Christmas spirit?'

Daisy's also cemented her relationship with Timmy Time and has discovered the Shaun the Sheep DVD that Jen bought her for Christmas (for those who don't know, Shaun the Sheep is an Aardman creation who first appeared in 'A Close Shave' and now has his own TV series aimed a school-age children, and Timmy is Shaun's nephew who has his own spin-off series, aimed at pre-school children). Now she asks for 'Timmy Time' and 'Timmy the Shaun'. We went to a local National Trust farm last weekend to look at some of the newborn lambs, and when we asked her what a baby sheep was called, she said 'Timmy!'

On Thursday Daisy got home from nursery and sat on the mat while I took her boots off.  Her socks had bunched themselves up inside her boots and when she saw them she said 'Oooh, my sock is a bit difficult...'

The best way to illustrate Daisy's progress in speech and motor skills is to show you this video, which is a bit long but I still love it.  And watch out for the kisses at the end :).

And finally, here's an excerpt from the Little Mermaid: -

I hope the weather warms up a bit soon, so we can actually get out of the house a bit more and not have to rely on the TV for entertainment. Spring officially began a few days ago and there's been snow up and down the country this weekend...

Thirty Months

It's difficult for me to say what Daisy's done over the past month, because I've only seen her for ten days of it, but she stole the show at the wedding and then had a great time while we were on honeymoon, spending two weeks with Daddy and the last week with Nanna & Grandpa (and Jen for the weekend). Mum put together a little diary of Daisy's time with them. Here are some excerpts (actually, most of it), but first, here's a photo from the wedding. I love that the photographer was able to go up to the top of the church and get a shot like this, but I love even more the fact that the vicar was happy to let Daisy and the other children do just what they wanted during the service. Daisy, as you can see, chose to have a rest on the stage at the front during our vows.

My Holiday – Week 3

By Daisy Bear

Friday

Daddy took me to meet Nanna and Grandpa at the services at Ferrybridge, then we drove to Nanna & Grandpa’s house. I recognised it straight away. “There it is!” I said, before we’d even got out of the car! I had lovely pasta and sauce for lunch and a pink wafer, because I ate a lot of pasta.

In the afternoon I played with ALL my toys that are here – looked at all the animal flashcards, took out all the 16 Peppa books from the case and counted them, played with my computer, took a picture of my foot with my camera, played with the tea set, the doctor set and the tool set, played with my maracas and tambourine, did the wooden jigsaw, and the farmyard jigsaw, and looked at all my books.

For tea I had fish fingers, and Jen came while I was eating it – yay! I had bathtime with Jen & Nanna looking after me, then I watched Timmy for a little while while I drank my milk. I cried for an extra story in bed, and lovely Jen read me another one, so I stopped crying, and went to sleep. Here is a picture of me cleaning my teeth before bed.

Saturday

I got up at 07:35 but Jen said she had heard me counting 5-4-3-2-1 at 07:10. Breakfast was porridge then flakes. I had it (and all my meals) at the dining room table, where I could see what was going on outside. I saw some doggies, and some cars and a green bus. After breakfast I did some jumping on Nanna & Grandpa’s bed. That was really exciting, then Jen and I played at locking the bedroom window with a key.

 

For lunch I had pasta again, and some crackers, instead of the sandwich that Nanna had made for me, so I didn’t get anything sweet for pudding.

Nanna went to choir in the afternoon, so Grandpa and Jen took me to the shop to get some new wellies, as we couldn’t find my purple boots. Daddy said he might have left them at Grandma’s. I didn’t really want to go out, and let them know this, so Jen sent me to sit on the naughty step for a few minutes. I still had to go out even after that! We didn’t find any wellies my size, so Grandpa bought me some lovely new pink boots, which I love. When we got home we found my purple boots inside my buggy!! Then I watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Jen’s big purple phone. She calls it a Kindle!


Sunday

Today I woke up and knocked on the bedroom door to be let out! It was time everyone was up – it was 07:45! We all went to church this morning. It was very loud, and I even put my finger in my ear once, but after a little while Jen took me into the crèche, where I played with some jigsaws and Lego and did drawings, and rode on a little cart. We all had juice and biscuits as well! When Nanna came to fetch us I went back into the church and climbed up all the stairs to the top of the seats, and walked along the seats – I did this several times! Nanna came with me of course. Lots of people spoke to me and said how pretty I am, but I didn’t take any notice.

For lunch we had gammon. Grandpa said it was bacon, but I knew it wasn't. I still ate it all, but I didn’t eat my vegetables and potatoes. I had some banana flakes and a pink wafer. That must be because it was Sunday, and not because I ate all my lunch!

In the afternoon I watched the Mickey Mouse DVD that Nanna had bought from Amazon for me. When it arrived it turned out to be a Christmas DVD, but I didn't mind. I think Nanna & Grandpa got a bit fed up of it by the end of the week, though!

Jen, Nanna & I played in the sun lounge, I rode my scooter, and we all had pretend tea in my tea set, several times. The yellow cup and plate were always Grandpa’s. Nanna had purple, Jen had blue and I had pink. Every time. Here I am serving it out, and riding my scooter.

For tea I had pasta again with tomato sauce and meatballs – well, it does the Italians no harm! I ate it all up, except the meatballs, so I had some bananas and pink cake for afters. I watched one Timmy Time before bathtime, and then In the Night Garden and another Timmy after bath, and went to bed at 7.10pm. I didn’t cry at all at bedtime.


Monday

Today I woke at 06:50, but I played in my bed till 07:15. This morning I went to the library and borrowed a book. It’s called ‘Kipper and the Tree House’. It’s a bit easy, probably for people who can’t read as well as me, but I quite like it.

Then we went to the coffee shop and soft play area at the Garden Centre. I enjoyed it more than Grandpa did, as I accidentally knocked Nanna’s full cup of coffee all over him, so his trousers and shoes were all wet. Nanna had to get a cloth and clean it up. I did a lot of climbing and jumping and sliding in the soft play with lots of other children. Then we came home and I didn’t eat my lunch. Nanna gave me some lovely ham and bread and butter with the crusts cut off, but I cried because it wasn’t pasta. So I didn’t eat anything, but I had had some crackers at the Garden Centre, so I wasn’t too hungry.

I had pasta and sauce with sausage for tea. I ate it all up except for 4 little slices of sausage, which I reassembled into a proper sausage shape! I finished my tea with a gingerbread man, because I had eaten all my tea, and I had some chocolate stones like the ones I had at the party where I wore my beautiful dress. [She's referring to the personalised M&Ms we had as our wedding favours...]

I had bath time with Jen and Nanna, then watched Mickey’s Christmas again while I drank my milk. I went to bed and read the new library book three times, and then Jen read Maisy and I went to sleep.

Tuesday

I woke up at 07:00 and opened the bedroom door by myself. Grandpa heard me and came to talk to me, then Nanna got up and made my breakfast, which I had with Nanna and Grandpa. Jen wasn’t there, as she was at work. Work must be really lovely, as Jen was there instead of being with me!!

I played with my jigsaws, and with two of Grandpa’s little buses from in my bedroom. Then Grandpa went to Bowls and Nanna and I watched Minnie’s Bow-tique, more than once, and I sang the song every time. Nanna & I went to the shop in Yarm to get some more milk for me and some things for Nanna and Grandpa. When we came back we went to see Grandpa at Bowls in the Village Hall. Everybody loved me, even though I was a bit shy at first. I had a quarter of a chocolate digestive biscuit, then played with a big pink foam ball on the green mat. Then I put my wellies on and went to the park, and I climbed on both climbing frames and slid down the slides. A pussycat came and it sat on a seat and washed its face, then it ran away. It came back while I was still on the climbing frame, and it jumped up next to me and walked all round my legs. Then we went back into the Village Hall to collect Grandpa and go home for lunch.

After lunch I played the piano then watched some more Minnie with Grandpa, because he didn’t see Minnie this morning. Then Joan & Albert came to visit and brought me Freddie’s farm to play with. Then just as tea was almost ready, Muriel and Bryan came to visit me, and brought me a present – a lovely pink sticker book. So we had tea half an hour late – fish fingers and beans. I ate all the breadcrumb, some of the fish and ALL of the beans, and then we had... pancakes! I ate one small one and half of a big one. Grandpa had maple syrup and strawberries on his, but I had mine 'au naturel'. I was very full. Everything was now running 30 minutes late, including bathtime and bedtime, but we had stories and I went straight to sleep.

Here I am practising my glissando.

Wednesday

Today I got up at 07:30. I knocked on the bedroom door again and Grandpa let me out!

I went to Tab Toddlers with Nanna and Grandpa this morning. There were lots of children and parents and grandparents. I went on the slide, and scooter, and slide, and tricycle, and slide, and sit-in car, and slide! I made stars fromPlay-doh, and sorted out the play kitchen for them, putting things in the cupboards. I didn’t want juice with everyone else. I had crackers instead of chocolate doughnuts and grapes. Then I played on the slide again while everyone else was singing songs, because there was no queue for the slide then! Everyone said how pretty I am – again! When we came out of Toddlers it was snowing!

Here are some pictures of me at Toddlers.

For lunch I had chicken goujons. Nanna cooked three for me, and I asked for more, and ate them all up! So I had pink cake and some flakes for pudding. I made my cutlery into a triangle, and a diamond and a square on my place-mat. My mat has lighthouses on it, by the way.

This afternoon we went to take Thomas his birthday present – he’s five today. We went to Aunty Sandra’s first, and I played with her jigsaws, and some balls, then later we went to Thomas’s house. It was snowing quite hard, and Nanna carried me. I was wearing my new pink boots, but I didn’t want to get them wet! Thomas had lots of cards and presents, and a new bed, which I went to climb on. Sharra helped me. I also played with some of his cars. 

We didn’t get home till 18:05, so I had a very quick tea of – guess what? That’s right. I ate it all up. Nanna had given me eggy breads, as they were very quick to cook, but I didn’t want them, so Grandpa ate them instead! I had a custard doughnut biscuit for pudding. I didn’t have a bath tonight, as it was very late, but we had time for one Mickey’s Christmas with my milk, and then stories in bed. I haven’t cried at all for 2 days, just grumbled a bit at having to go in the car...!

I don’t know if I can do any more diary for you tomorrow, as we will be busy tomorrow morning packing up all my things to come home. Nanna said she wants me to be properly settled in at home before you come back. We'll make sure the house is OK, and nice and warm, because you will feel cold after your holiday, especially if we still have snow. We can also do shopping to get food in for the weekend.

I hope you like the diary that I’ve done so far for you. I’m looking forward so much to seeing you again. Bye for just now, Mummy and Dee. I hope you’ve had a lovely holiday.

Love you lots,

Daisy

(This is me putting the tablecloth away)

Twenty-Nine Months

We've had a relatively good month since the last update, including a great Christmas, New Year in the Cotswolds and three weeks of wedding preparation. Daisy's favourite pastime is now jumping, whether on the trampoline, on the sofa or just on the floor. When she's on the trampoline, she likes to 'jump really big high', and then she likes to 'spin really big fast'. She's learned a lot of phrases from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, including 'Oh boy oh boy' when I tell her we're doing something she likes, and 'X marks the spot' when watching or talking about anything to do with finding treasure.

When she gets frustrated, she has taken to saying 'Foe!' I'm not entirely sure where that's come from, but I have a feeling it might be me... When I get frustrated, I say, 'Oh, for...' then stop myself before I swear. Naughty Mummy :).

A couple more funny phrases of Daisy's: she likes to put things 'in the right border' and often hides things 'under the neath'.

Videos this month:

Firstly, Sing-Along-A-Mickey-Mouse: -

Then a conversation about Sparky the Lion, in the episode 'Donald's Lost Lion': -

And finally, some Pirate Dancing, which she stops and does every time she watches this particular episode of Timmy Time: -

2012: Week 52 and a Half

This post is just for the last three days of 2012. For new posts in 2013, please go to my Project 365 Website for 2013.

Saturday 29 December

Jon took this picture while Daisy wasn't looking this morning. I love it!

Sunday 30 December

We left Mum & Dad's today and travelled to the Cotswolds to spend New Year with Jon's friends. Daisy enjoyed spending time with Teddy and Matilda, and playing with Teddy's puzzles, but mostly she enjoyed watching the Timmy Time DVD that Jen got her for Christmas ;-).

Monday 31 December

My Facebook status today read: "I feel quite sad to be leaving 2012 behind. As well as being a great year for Britain, it's been a great year for me - I've got engaged, bought a house, lost 2 stone, planned a wedding... I suppose next year I'll have to be content with getting married, going on honeymoon, building a house and moving into it :-)."

I hope you've enjoyed this year's pictures.  Even though I hate remembering to take my camera with me everywhere and I often forget to take photos for days at a time, I'm going to continue doing Project 365 in 2013. Glutton for punishment...

2012: Week 52

Saturday 22 December

I didn't take this photo today, but the gingerbread house was made today ;). Jon's niece Eloise made it with Jon's Mum. When we broke into it on Boxing Day, it was a bit like the floodgates opened for me. I'd been as good as I possibly could be on the food front until then, but the gingerbread house tasted so delicious I couldn't stop eating it :).

Sunday 23 December

 

We went to the pantomime in Ipswich this afternoon, then to Jon's sister's for Chinese takeaway (after I'd weighed in at the fat club round the corner - half a pound off!). Here's Finn showing off his six-pack :).

Monday 24 December

The dog's happy - for the time being. Enjoy it while you can, Angus - there'll be children here tomorrow, who'll want to pull your tail and poke you...

Tuesday 25 December

Merry Christmas! Here we are about to tuck in to Jon's braised pork which had been in the making since Saturday. It was delicious!

Wednesday 26 December

Jessica arrived yesterday with a new face painting kit. When everyone had had their face painted, she started on Grandad's bald patch...

Thursday 27 December

We picked up Daisy on the way to Nanna & Grandpa's today, then opened presents this afternoon. Jon and I got her a scooter which she enjoyed pushing round the not-very-big conservatory, but her favourite present was a set of water flutes that you play with in the bath - the more water you put in them, the higher the note they play. Will get a photo soon.

Friday 28 December

Auntie Katherine gave Daisy these slipper socks which, if a bit big, were a hit!

2012: Week 51

Saturday 15 December

 

Jon and I went into London today to see Jersey Boys.  We also booked a pre-theatre meal but were in town an hour or so early so decided to go to the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park. Note to self: Do not go to Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park 10 days before Christmas, especially when you're desperate for the loo.  It took us 10 minutes to get in the gate, then 15 minutes to find the nearest toilet, then I queued for 25 minutes so by the time I was done, it was time to leave :).

Sunday 16 December

 

Butter wouldn't melt...

Monday 17 December

Strawberry Santas, ready for the Slimming World Christmas Party tonight.

Tuesday 17 December

I found out this week that a new soft play area has opened up within walking distance of our house, so we checked it out this afternoon. Daisy HATED it for the first 10 minutes - cried, screamed, wouldn't get out of her buggy, sat on my lap and sucked her thumb - and by an hour and a half later when I told her it was time to leave, she cried again because she didn't want to go :). Here she is before she received the news that it was home time.

Wednesday 19 December

We went to the Little Stars Nativity and Christmas Party this morning, where Daisy ate her body weight in sugar and I felt sure that, despite the fact that she hadn't napped the last couple of days, she wouldn't nap again today either, even though she needed to. My Facebook status from this evening read: "I really wanted an hour to myself this afternoon so in an effort to get Daisy to nap (becoming increasingly difficult these days), we went upstairs and read some stories in her room. Before I knew it she was asleep on my lap. I had so much to do but I reclined the chair, closed my eyes and thanked God for my baby, thinking of the Sandy Hook families whose babies won't fall asleep on their laps again. It was the best hour I've spent in a long time."

Thursday 20 December

Daisy and her friend Harry. It's SOOOO difficult to get a good picture of the two of them!

Friday 21 December

 

Counting her monies, which she keeps in her Hello Kitty purse.  I swear the first time she hears the phrase 'Let's all put some money into a kitty', she's going to think 'But I've been doing that for years...'!

Twenty-Eight Months

So half of this month has been about what Daisy's going to do. Even if she's doing it there and then, she still says 'I'm going to...' For example: "I'm going to throw the ball, Mummy. Mummy, you throw the ball. I'm going to catch it. I've got it! I'm going to put it on the chair. I'm going to pick it up...'

The other half of this month has been about what Daisy doesn't like, or, to be specific, what she 'can't like'.  'Not this one, I can't like it.' 'I can't like nursery.' 'I can't need a bib on.' And so on, ad infinitum...

I managed to get Daisy to count backwards on camera, after a few false starts. Here she is both counting backwards and indulging in a bit of self-admiration...

I'm still amazed every month at how quickly children pick up language (can't like and don't like aside, obviously).  Last week Daisy demonstrated her command of possessives by saying 'Mummy, you've got your gloves on, and I've got my gloves on!'

As far as bedtime stories go, her favourites have moved from the Little Workmates series to a set of four little Charlie & Lola books that Jen got her last Christmas. She always has to read them in the same order, which makes me laugh: first the lellow one, then the blue one, then the green one and finally the purple one.  On the visual entertainment front, the firm favourites are still Mickey Mouse, Peppa Pig and Timmy Time.  Here she is singing a song from 'Aye Aye, Captain Mickey':

 And here she is stopping what she's doing, as always, so she can check the Mousekemap:

This video has been a little while coming, but I finally managed to get her on camera going upstairs like a lion:

Her hair is growing faster than ever, and I've made an appointment for her to have a fringe cut in about 10 days before our wedding. She has a baby fringe that isn't long enough to be pulled back out of her eyes anyway, so I'm hoping that by adding a bit more hair to it, it will look more like a deliberate attempt at a fringe and will make it look a lot tidier than it does at the moment!

Finally, just to show you what a horrible Mummy I am, here's a reject picture from our Christmas-themed photo shoot. I would have loved to use it for our Christmas card, but no amount of editing could get her eyes to look like she hadn't been screaming and saying 'No, Mummy! Put the hood down! I can't like Christmas!'

Merry Christmas, my beautiful girl :).