2012: Week 38

Saturday 15 September

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.

Twenty-Five Months

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 :).

2012: Week 37

Saturday 8 September

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... :).

2012: Week 36

Saturday 1 September

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...

2012: Week 35

Saturday 25 August

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...'