A Year in Pictures: Week 34

Saturday 20 August





This picture wasn't taken today, but ssshhh... There aren't many pictures of me and Daisy as I'm usually the one behind the camera. I love this one.





Sunday 21 August





Who, me? I didn't do it...





Monday 22 August





OK, we didn't actually start her birthday 2 days early but I didn't take any pictures today (or tomorrow). She was very excited to open her presents, so she could play with... the wrapping paper :).





Tuesday 23 August





Auntie Clare arrived today! Daisy was clearly very excited about that...





Wednesday 24 August





Happy Birthday Daisy! I just cannot believe my baby is a year old. I bought this kit last week and decided that today would be a good day to do it, particularly as Clare was here to help. It was sooo difficult just to get the clay in the frame for a start, then Daisy started putting her pokey fingers on it, but there was no way I was going to try and roll the clay out again, so the imperfections will just have to be part of the story of making her hand and footprints on her first birthday. There's space for a photograph on the other side but I haven't had one printed yet. Might take another picture of it once it's finished and use it on a day when I forget to take any pictures...





Thursday 25 August





I know this is absolutely the wrong angle to have taken the picture from, as her face is in shadow, but I love her casual pose and facial expression :).





Friday 26 August





Let me out!

Daisy at Twelve Months

OK, OK, so it's actually 26 September today. I've been meaning to write this post about things Daisy can do at the age of one for a while now, and I've realised that the longer I leave it, the more things she learns so if I don't write it soon I'll forget what she could do and when. As it happens, I made a photo book of Daisy's first year, which I'm super thrilled with, and I wrote in there all the words she could speak and signs she could do at the age of one, so anything she can do now she must have learned since then, and can go in the 'thirteen months old' post I'll write after this one :).


So, Daisy is a year old already. As I mentioned in the caption for the picture on 17 August, her one-year measurements put her in the 9th percentile for height, the 25th for weight and the 85th for head circumference... She is able to stand up from sitting, but she hasn't shown much of an interest in walking anywhere yet. She can say Mummy, Daddy, Daisy, Nanna, no, more, up, down, bye and baby, and can sign 'all done', 'where?' and 'more'. She claps when she hears someone say 'good girl' and she does a sitting-down dance when she hears music.

She LOVES playing peekaboo with anything to hand - when she's lying down having her nappy changed, she finds Ellie, her favourite toy, puts her above her head and says 'Where, where?' while signing 'where'. I ask where it is, then she reaches above her head, finds Ellie and shows her to me. Another variation on this theme is if you say 'Where's Daisy gone?' she'll cover her eyes with her hands and give you a big smile when she takes them away and you shout 'There she is!'

She says 'more' a LOT - I think she thinks it means 'breadstick', because that's usually what she wants when she says it. I'm trying to teach her to say or sign 'please' but we're not quite there yet.

Her method of crawling is so funny. I guess it would be categorised as a bum shuffle, but I honestly don't think she will crawl properly before she walks. She plants her right foot on the ground and pulls herself forward with that and her left hand, dragging her left foot with her. She seems to get around fine like this, though, and she even has a hand free to carry things in... :)

Happy Birthday Daisy Bear!

A Year in Pictures: Week 33

Wow, am I in trouble this week and next! I hardly took any photos. But I do have lots of pictures for the days I did take out my camera, so I'll just spread them out over the week. Sorry it's not authentic...



Saturday 13 August





We went over to Ipswich today for the first of Daisy's four birthday celebrations. Jon's Mum and brother-in-law had made a cake with her photo on it, and she got some lovely presents: a hammer & peg set, a 'my first gadget' set including a phone, a remote control and a set of keys, and a wooden puzzle with farmyard animals that makes the relevant animal noise when you put a piece in. Here's her cake...





Sunday 14 August





... and here she is enjoying her new toys.





Monday 15 August





Jon baked schiacciata yesterday. How delicious does that look???!!! It tasted delicious too.





Tuesday 16 August





Happy Birthday Auntie Jen! Here's the view of Jen's screen as we were Skyping with her today.





Wednesday 17 August





The health visitor came round today to carry out Daisy's one-year health check. She's 27.75 inches long, which is the 9th percentile. She weighs 18lbs 1.5oz; the 25th percentile, and her head circumference is 46.5cm - around the 85th percentile! Maybe that's why she hasn't shown an interest in walking yet; she's got a lot of weight at the top to carry on those legs! The health visitor said she is doing really well in terms of motor skills and brain development, so it's a good job she's got lots of room for all those brain cells...





Thursday 18 August





This is how she looked this morning when I went to wake her up from her nap :).





Friday 19 August







I had an impromptu trip to Southampton today to sort out that carnage that was the defrosted contents of my freezer, after Clare went round the other day to find there was no electricity in the property. I had some time to kill before returning home as I didn't want to hit the M25 at rush hour, so I went to Hobbycraft to buy some frames and while I was there I finally figured out what I could do with the ceramic coaster Daisy made 5 months ago. I'd been trying to work out the best way of displaying it, and while this isn't exactly a ground-breaking idea, it was difficult for me to visualise how it might look as I have no imagination. I put it together after I got back from Southampton and I'm really pleased with it.

A Year in Pictures: Week 32

Saturday 6 August





Cambridge always has such interesting buskers. We walked past this guy as he was setting up, and I wondered what he might be doing with a steel frame and a violin... He was actually standing on one leg for most of the time I was watching him.





Sunday 7 August





We went to Wimpole Hall this afternoon, which is a National Trust place about half an hour from us. We had Daisy with us and just wanted a change of scenery, and it was such a lovely day that we didn't want to spend it inside, so we didn't bother with going inside the house but just walked around the grounds. Nice, eh?





Monday 8 August





Mothercare was doing Buy One Get One Free on ball pit balls so we got two bags on Saturday and gave the paddling pool a dual purpose. The last time I took her to a ball pit, she wasn't too keen, so I suggested to Jon that he put her in the paddling pool and add the balls a few at a time. I went upstairs to the loo, came back a minute later and she was already surrounded by balls, smiling away. I guess she's over her dislike of ball pits, then.





Tuesday 9 August





I took Daisy swimming today. It was not a success. She's been swimming with Rob quite a few times, but she didn't like it this morning. I thought the water was a bit cold, and I think that's what was upsetting her, as she didn't cry if she was distracted by a toy or another child, but after half an hour of crying I decided enough was enough. She was very cute in the changing rooms though :).





Wednesday 10 August





We went to Leo's Funzone today, which is a small soft play area at the Leisure Centre. It's free for under-1s, but when you get in there you realise why - there's not vast amounts for pre-walkers to do. However, as it's the summer holidays and we don't have Sing & Sign or Gymbabes to go to, a change of scenery is a good start, so I think we'll probably go back a couple of times before her birthday. Here she is at lunchtime. Apparently she really, really likes Diet Coke...





Thursday 11 August





Pulling herself up to standing is old news now. She's not really moving along very much once she does stand, but she has done it a couple of times. If you tell her 'Up' and 'Down' she'll stand up or sit down accordingly, though.





Friday 12 August





I've said before that I'm not keen on babies having things in their hair, particularly when they don't have any, but I figure she actually does have some now and I tried out this hair band this morning. I thought it looked quite nice, but I wonder if she had different ideas, because by the time we had walked into town it had disappeared...

A Year in Pictures: Week 31

Saturday 30 July





We left Keswick today after a lovely week with Nanna, Grandpa and Auntie Jen. On the way home, we stopped at my friend Clare's house and met her 2-week-old daughter Matilda. Helen and Dave also came round with Sam, who turned 5 a couple of weeks ago. Here he is trying on superhero costumes with Clare's son Harry, who's 3.





Sunday 31 July





Today Jon, Daisy and I went to Dunstable Downs, which is probably the nearest set of hills to here, at one end of the Chilterns. It was a beautiful day and we had a lovely walk along the buggy-friendly pathway looking at the gorgeous views, but it's this view that I like the best :). Coke's youngest fan? [NB Before anyone calls the NSPCC, she didn't drink any of it; the ring pull was still attached.]





Monday 1 August





I bought a paddling pool today as it's so hot, which gave Daisy the opportunity to try on her new swimming costume...





Tuesday 2 August





Cute from every angle.





Wednesday 3 August





More splashing in the paddling pool today. It was warmer than it looks in this photo!





Thursday 4 August





Daisy loves playing with her Gymbabes ball. She specifically likes it when you throw it at her head. Seriously.







Friday 5 August





This isn't my picture, but it's pretty much what I saw on the other carriageway as I was on the motorway today (except I was at ground level, not in a helicopter). I went to Southampton to check on the house, see Liz, Caitlin and Ava and have lunch with Clare, then as I was driving home there was an accident on the other side of the M25. It took me 3.5 hours to get home, as opposed to the usual just over 2 hours, but I was just glad I wasn't going in the other direction...

A Year in Pictures: Week 30

Saturday 23 July


This is our home for the next week. Isn't it cute? It's called Woolstore Cottage and is in Keswick, where Daisy and I are on holiday with Nanna & Grandpa and Auntie Jen. It's got a lounge/diner/kitchen on the ground floor, a twin bedroom and shower room on the first floor and a king bedroom and bathroom on the top floor. Daisy and I arrived after the other three, and they decided that it would be easier if Jen and I shared the king bed and Mum & Dad would have the twin room, so Daisy could have her own room too - the bathroom on the top floor :).


Sunday 24 July


We spent today getting our bearings and having a walk round Fitz Park, just across the road from our cottage. A passing stranger offered to take our picture. Unfortunately she wasn't prepared to hang around long enough for Daisy to look at the camera.


Monday 25 July


We went to the Lake (Derwentwater) today after Daisy's afternoon nap. I worked out how to put my camera onto continuous mode, so I got loads of Daisy being gorgeous, but I chose this picture for today as Jen is just as gorgeous and we haven't seen her on here for a while.


Tuesday 26 July


Two pictures in two days! And talking of gorgeous, I think this is a really lovely picture of Jen. Today she, Daisy and I went to visit my lovely friend Sarah, who moved to Bowness, about 25 miles from Keswick, in the last year, and had this little man, Finley, a month ago. Apparently this is not the way he normally behaves - usually he's more vocal than this - but we didn't mind at all.


Wednesday 27 July


This one's a cheat, as I didn't take it - Dad did - but it was definitely taken today :). Most evenings after dinner Dad's been for a walk round town, and tonight he took some beautiful shots of the sunset over the Lake.

Thursday 28 July


Today was the only day we saw any rain - which for the Lake District is some sort of record, I think. It was also the day that an invitational Twenty20 cricket match was being played at the local ground. As it turned out, the rain was very quick to pass in the morning and the overcast conditions made it a good day for playing sport. Dad went and watched the match from the start and after Daisy woke up from her nap, we went and joined him for the second side's innings. Here are Daisy and Jen sharing a joke.


Friday 29 July


Today we decided to have a game of bowls at the park near the cottage. Dad won, with Mum a close second (6 to 5, although they play twice a week so they have an advantage), and Jen and I only got 1 and 2 respectively. I was playing with Daisy on my front in her carrier, and I'd like to say it made it more difficult for me to play well, but I don't think I would have played any better anyhow... Here we are celebrating our first point.