(Not really monthly) update

Well, it's been an absolute age since I've done an update, so it can't really be called a monthly one anymore!

Age: 27 months

Size/weight: Weighs about 2 stone, not sure of height. Mostly in 2-3 year clothes, actually has a few tops that are 3-4 and her new mac is 3-4 as she complains about coats being 'too tight' a lot. I have now discovered the really easy way to take trousers up (iron on hemming thing, that takes about 2 minutes, instead of the 45 minutes it takes me to sew up one trouser leg), so am happier about buying trousers that are nice and loose, but far too long.

Health: Generally pretty good, though she's had two colds/coughs this month.

Teeth: She still has some gaps at the back, though maybe they're supposed to b there. She loves brushing her teeth, and would do so 5 or 6 times a day, given the chance. She's also usually happy for us to brush them a bit, to ensure they are being properly brushed; sometimes we have to let her brush our teeth, though. I almost always brush my teeth at the same time as she does, unless I've done them already for some reason, as I think it's good for to see it. I actually have no idea if Chris does the same.

Toiletting: Getting much closer to being dry. She's on her second potty and toilet reward chart (she got a toy snake as a prize for filling the first one up). When at home, she's now frequently realising she needs to wee or poo and pulling her trousers (and nappy, if she has one on) down and sitting on the potty. She still has quite a few accidents when she's just got trousers on, but they're gradually going. She's not much good on the toilet anymore - odd, because we thought she might bypass the potty and go straight to the toilet. I think she appreciates the immediacy of the potty; there's no need to walk upstairs and she doesn't have to worry about having to get someone to open the door for her. The potty (or potties; we have three of them; one on each floor) gives her the ability to be more independent (which is something she is clearly craving.

Sleep: Well, she had quite a bad night tonight, deciding to make a game out of bedtime. However, generally speaking she's going to bed very well and without hours of watching TV, which is useful. And, more to the point, she's going to bed at a reasonable time (usually between 7 and 8pm, though tonight she held out until 8.30pm). She comes into our bed in the early hours far too often and hasn't had a star on her staying in her own bed chart for a long time. She rarely has a daytime nap now, though sometimes falls asleep in her buggy if she's had a long day.

Eating: She's generally not too keen on evening meals at the moment, though can surprise us (with no apparent logic, unfortunately) and really wolf something down. She's very keen on noodles at the moment and quite often has some at lunchtime. She usually has a lot of breakfast and a fair amount at lunchtime and also usually has some snacks in between. She's back into bananas again, after having a couple of weeks of not liking them. She really loves pears and quite likes apples. She also prefers food from my plate, even though it's usually exactly the same as the food on her plate. She's fairly reluctant to try new things at the moment, though I'm sure that's just a phase.

Speech/communication: This is the area where she's very forward. She can explain what she needs or wants, what she's been doing, what she's going to do, and so on. She still sometimes forgets that she explain things, or is too quick to get upset, but once she's calmed down, she usually remembers that she can use words to tell us why she's upset. She can say some things in Spanish and quite a lot in Esperanto, which her Granny often speaks to her. The other day when we were running to catch the train, we were saying 'One, two, three, wheeeeeee,' and, after we'd done that a few times, she said 'In Spanish, this time,' then it was 'Uno, dos, tres, wheeeeee,' (if anyone can tell me the translation for 'wheeeeee' that would be really helpful) a few times. The interesting thing here, I think, is that she's recognising it as a different language, rather than just different words. The other thing I've noticed her doing is saying made-up words that sound a bit Spanish (pretty sure they're not actual Spanish or Esperanto words!), which is how babies learn a language and how I learnt Spanish when we lived in Spain. (Sorry, Chris and I are both very interested in language and linguistic development and so on, so we can go on about it a fair bit. Which could also contribute to her being forward in that area, I imagine.)

Intellectual development: Pretty good, I would say. She often listens when we explain why we need to do something or not do something and sometimes asks questions about the explanation. She's drawing faces now and she was making more complicated playdough creatures today, asking me to roll balls to make into eyes, and then sticking them on - on on each side (wiggly worm). She did also think that the worm needed two legs. She listens to longer stories, now, and can talk about the story afterwards. (Can also tell you what happened to Peppa Pig after watching an episode, etc.) Her counting has definitely progressed to actually counting objects and not just saying the numbers, though sometimes she does still continue counting after she's reached the end of a series. She recognises a number of different letters - O for Owl, M for Mummy, E for Eva, T for Tasha, J for Jenny, I for Ice cream... - and has started to realise that words in books say things and pointing at them and asking 'What is it?' or 'What's its name?'. She can move things around to get to places she can't reach - for example, she can pull a chair across so that she can press play on the CD player, pull a box across so that she can wash her hands or climb into the bath, pull a box across so she can look out our bedroom window, etc. There's undoubtedly much more to mention here, but we certainly don't have any concerns about her intellectual development.

Emotional development: We have been experiencing the 'fun' of the 'terrible twos' over the last few months. As I'm sure most parents do, we thought we'd escaped this, until it actually arrived. We said things like 'She did the terrible twos early. They lasted about two weeks.' And people told us that we might need to be prepared and that perhaps it was still to come. Well, they were right. For the most part, I can identify some logic behind it (in Rosemary's case, I mean; not every two-year-old!). It seems to be down to two things, the first being the conflict between the desire and need to be independent and the inabilty to do everything. The most common scenes occur when her nappy needs changing, when it's time to get dressed and when it's time to go to sleep - all things that she's wanting to be able to do herself, but not quite there yet. The other thing is the inability, despite advanced language development, to quickly explain what she means. For example, she might ask me to tuck her in, and will scream because I didn't do it the way she wanted. She's less likely to scream these days, but may shout 'No, like this!' and even stomp her feet. But the problem comes when she has to explain what 'like this' is. She's getting better at explaining things, and including a number of steps, now, for example 'Put the cover down here, then wrap it round me' (turned out that tucking her in isn't tucking the covers under the mattress, but tucking them under her; who'd a thunk it?). But she needs to think about it before she can come up with such an explanation, hence the immediate reaction is still often just 'No! Like this!'

We went through a stage (probably a couple of weeks) of 'banging'. Banging is essentially hitting and she does now know the word 'hitting' as well. At first it was just banging a spoon or fork on the table (you know, there's actually a children's book that says 'A spoon's great for banging; a cup fits your paw', or possibly the other way round and it annoys me a bit whenever I read it, because it's really annoying having a small child banging cups and spoons on the table!), but then it progressed to hitting us and Wesley (and various cuddly toys). And there were a couple of occasions where she hit another child while running past them (i.e. running around very fast and randomly sticks her hand out and shouts 'Bang!'). This is another area where I always watched the children doing this and wondered what their parents could be doing wrong, because of course my children would never do such a thing. Apparently it's a phase that most children go through and it's just a question of how long it will last - and how you deal with, of course. We seem to be over it, for the most part. Very occasionally, when she's very excited, she still does it to us, but she also usually realises she's done it and says 'Oh, sorry, I banged you.' How do we deal with it? For the most part we tell her it's not nice and that it hurts and it's not nice to hurt people or animals. We also say things like 'We don't like banging or biting or scratching. What do we like? We like kisses and cuddles and tickles and raspberries.' If it's protracted (doesn't really happen any more, touch wood), then we might (if it's safe to do so), leave the room and say we're not coming back in until she's going to be nice and friendly. Of course (I say, of course, but I realise that it's not obvious to everyone), what we never do is hit back, or bite back or scratch back.

Over the last two weeks she has become a lot more clingy with me, saying 'I need you, Mummy.' and literally clinging on tight to me. This morning, for the first time in my recollection, she said she didn't want to go with Granny, but wanted to stay with me. A brief talk about what she'd be doing and how she would see me in a few hours when she got home, and she was fine. And, of course, she had a lovely time, as she always does. I'm wondering if this might have something to do with starting nursery school. She adores going there and asks to go in there whenever we walk past, even if it's a weekend. She's has no qualms whatsoever about staying there without us and always has a good time. However, I wonder if there's a conflict between her desire to be more independent and not quite being ready to be. (Or perhaps I'm over-thinking it!!)

Social development: She's getting better at sharing, though still does snatch sometimes. She's good at offering her things - the ones she wants to - but she's not quite so happy when someone has something she doesn't want to share. She's getting on well at nursery school and likes the other children. She's particularly enjoyed playing with an older girl, which is often the case, it seems. She's still quite shy with many adults, but seems to be OK with the adults at nursery school (though on her first day she did say that she didn't like them because 'They're too old'). She still has a tendency to go up to other children and give them big hugs, something that many children find a bit upsetting, for some reason! Anyone in a buggy she'll say 'Awww. What a cute baby', even if they're clearly (to us, anyway) older than her. She shows sympathy and concern when she sees another child or baby crying. She's generally quite good at taking turns, in the park, for instance.

Likes: Going on the merry-go-round, running, being pushed in the buggy running 'really, really fast', noodles and bread and butter and peanut butter (not at the same time), being talked to by a hand puppet (Snake is the favourite, but Eeyore, Mouse, Dragon, Knight and Princess also work), climbing over and up just about anything that she can manage (us, chairs, walls, park equipment), The Wizard of Oz, Peppa Pig, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Boris and Dudley puppet books, reading in general (mostly being read to, again, but asks lots of questions and will join in with some of the ones she knows very well), probably a gazillion other things I can't think of right now.

Dislikes: Having her hair rinsed, getting dressed when she doesn't want to, having her poopy nappy changed (fortunately, we don't have to do that very often as she does most of them on the potty), sitting at the dining table at dinner time for more than about three minutes, any clothes or straps that are not really, really loose, and probably a bunch of other stuff, too.

Developmental worries: None

New tricks/skills: Pulling her trousers and nappy or pants down so she can use the potty (and realising she needs to!), drawing faces, probably lots of other things that I have not properly noticed!

Monthly update for May 2008

Age: 22 months

Size/weight: Quite a few 2 year clothes, especially dresses, though still plenty of 18-24 month clothes. Still have issues with most trousers, that they tend to be too tight or too long (her mum suffers from the same issues!). I noticed, when she was asleep in her bed fully stretched out, that she seems to be longer (taller) than half the bed length.

Health: Generally very good this month, though she has just developed a bit of a cold and a cough.

Teeth: She has the four top and four bottom, plus a molar at the bottom right and I think another molar coming through at the bottom right and possibly corresponding ones at the top, though they're more difficult to see. She willingly opens her mouth to show us now, but she hasn't quite got the hang of getting her tongue out of the way!

Toiletting: Still in nappies. She knows when she's really, really just about to do a poo. If there's a potty very close by, we'll try to grab it, but usually she's not too keen. She often says 'I need to wee', but isn't usually interested once the potty is there and her nappy's off! She seems quite interested in the toilet - more so than the potties, I'd say - so it may be that she'll just go straight to using the loo (I think her Grandma said that Chris did that?).

Sleep: She has a pretty good bedtime routine going now, thanks to her dad (and it's now usually her dad who puts her to bed, though I can do it too, as can my sister and my mum). The routine is roughly bath (around 8-8.30pm), watch 2-3 episodes of Charlie and Lola (or something else, but they're probably still the most common), dimming the lights (e.g. full light for one episode, bedside light for one episode, no light for final episode), switch of TV and DVD and go through to her room, get into bed, go to sleep. (The last bit can be very quick and can take a while, depending on who knows what, but it's generally pretty quick.) The timings can vary, too, and when she goes through to her room is usually decided by how tired she's acting. [Chris may want to edit this section, as he knows about the sleep a lot more than I do!]

Nap time is usually OK as welll, though if she's over-tired she can get very stroppy and not be sure how to go to sleep (usually, it's still Muilk (her abbreviation for Mummy Milk) when she comes in from being with her Granny or from being out at swimming/toddlers. Weekends are often more difficult because timings go a bit wonky then. Sometimes she falls asleep in her buggy and will be transferred to her bed with no trouble, but she does usually wake for a bit of Muilk if that happens. It's probably time to try and develop another (non-Muilk dependent) nap routine, especially if the stroppiness increases.

She still wakes in the night, though is more often managing only one waking about 3 hours after going to sleep and then sleeping through to 6 or 7 in the morning. But she is frequently getting up at 6 or 7 in the morning, which is a bit early! Naps are, for the most part, 2 hours; sometimes 1.5 hours and 3 hours.

Eating: She's getting a bit fussier it seems, which is supposed to be quite common at this age, so we're trying not to fuss too much about it. She prefers to graze throughout the day and, as long as it's a balanced mix, we're trying not to be too worried if she does this and then doesn't eat loads at dinnertime. One thing we've been doing quite often is putting her unfinished dinner in the fridge and getting it out again at breakfast time and letting her graze on it in the living room. This is generally very successful, unless she really hates the food (not that common). She sometimes sees it in the fridge and says 'Ooh, my dinner's cooled down!', so perhaps she prefers cold food. She still likes most fruit (she's going through a banana phase at the moment) and quite a lot of vegetables, which is great. There's not much meat or fish that she enthuses about, though she had some fish in JRooL the other day which she seemed to really enjoy. But now her molars are developing, Chris thinks she'll probably be more into the meat.

Speech/communication: This is still amazing. She's asking questions now, the main one being 'What's that?' and she's waiting for answers and listening carefully. She knows loads of nursery rhymes and will quite often sing them to herself when going to sleep. There are a few grammatical things that can bug us a bit, particularly her insistance on asking 'Pick you up.' and 'Carry you' instead of 'Pick me up' and 'Carry me'. She's said the right ones a few times, so does know it. And she gets the pronouns the right way round for other things. She says 'Hola', 'Arriba', 'Empujen' and 'Gesundheit' - the Spanish are pretty much entirely down to Dora the Explorer, rather than any particular efforts on our part. The 'Gesundheit' is us, though, and she loves it - it makes her giggle and she'll do fake sneezes and then say 'Gesundheit' to amuse herself!

Intellectual development: Seems to be pretty good. She's very good with all the shape sorters and those puzzles where there's a block of wood that shapes fit into (not explaining that at all well, sorry). She's developing an imagination and creativity now - for example, the other day she made herself a slide out of a broom propped up against the sofa. She can draw zig zags now, as well as circles and lines. She's reading books (not literally, of course) on her own a lot more. She can point out lots of things in the pictures in books and when she doesn't know what something is she asks 'What's that?'.

Emotional development: She's still being very loving with many people (will cuddle little children and say 'I love you', for example) and is frequently telling us 'I love you'. She's also developed both a real and fake shyness. The real one involves cuddling into one of us when someone she doesn't know/know well is talking to her. The pretend one involves tilting her head a bit into her shoulder and saying 'I'm shy of Mummy' or 'I'm shy of Daddy' - and then giggling. She's really getting into the tantrums, though they are still (and hopefully will remain) fairly short-lived. She will scream quite quickly if she's frustrated with something, or one of us has misunderstood her/gone against her wishes.

Social development: See above for the being loving and being shy. She's still not really understanding sharing (though not expected to at this stage, really) and so when at toddler group, we have to be vigilant to head off attempts to 'steal' toys from other children. But she does also quite often play in the home corner alongside other children and give them things (e.g. give them a 'cup of tea', a 'sausage', etc.). Still has never been left in a creche or nursery without one of us, so don't know how she will face that. That's something we need to at least try a couple of times before she starts going to play group, I think.

Likes: Far too much TV - Dora the Explorer, Charlie and Lola, Peppa Pig, Wonder Pets, playing in the garden, going to the park (especially going 'up the stairs and down the slide'), walking when out, money (?!!), swimming (though sometimes likes the idea of it more than the actual act, especially if she's supposed to go on her back), pink milk, ice cream, spaghetti, bananas, pears, toast and peanut butter (especially mummy's toast and peanut butter). Probably lots and lots more that I can't think of right at this moment.

Dislikes: Anything involving not getting her own way, having her hair brushed, rinsing the shampoo/conditioner off her hair, sitting at the dining table for a protacted amount of time.

Developmental worries: None

New tricks/skills: It looks like she may be able to open her bedroom door now, as she did so three times last night, though it may have been that the door wasn't closed properly. Will have to keep an eye/ear out for that!

Monthly update

Age: 21 months

Size/weight: Mostly 18-24 month clothes; some 2 year clothes (especially tops and dresses). No idea of weight, but she's neither skinny nor chubby, so I assume it's about right! No idea of height, either, but she can't walk under the dining table without ducking.

Health: Generally good this month, with a few minor snuffles.

Teeth: Has another one somewhere towards the middle of the back on the right and has pointed it out to me, but still won't let me feel! There may be more we don't know about, though.

Toiletting: Still in nappies. She'll sit on her potty, but usually only with clothes and a nappy on. She seems to somtimes know she's just about to do a poo, but only a few seconds before, so not enough time to take clothes off and sit on potty. I think the warm weather that should be coming soon (?) will be ideal for letting her run around without a nappy and quickly get her on the potty. (Though still need to convince Chris that this is a good idea!)

Sleep: She is now sleeping in a big girl's bed! Chris changed the cot into a bed about a week ago now and she is definitely sleeping better. She is still waking, but quite often will go 6-7 hours without waking now. She has gone to sleep in her bed a couple of times now (rather than going to sleep in our room and being carried through) - the night before last she even asked Chris to leave the room and shut the door and went to sleep on her own. She's also not come to sleep in our bed in the middle of the night since the change (though this may be more down to the fact that I can sit/lie next to her when she wakes in the middle of the night, so don't feel so tired I need to take her through to our room!). She has fallen out a couple of times, but we have a duvet on the floor next to the bed to soften the fall and she has not really been bothered by it (and certainly not hurt) and has gone very quickly back to sleep afterwards. She has slept in there for all her naps since the change as well, which is wonderful. All in all the change to a cotbed has been a definite success. The next sleep challenges are for her to sleep through the night consistently, and for her to go to sleep at a reasonable time when staying with her granny!

Eating: She's eating well for the most part, though does have days where she's not hugely interested. Her taste buds and senses are maturing so that she has much more definite reactions to different flavours. She's far, far too fond of ice cream (which we introduced her to when she had a nasty sore throat - oops!) and would probably be happy to only eat that! She's still very fond of spaghetti (plain; with goat's cheese, sundried tomatoes and rocket; with bolognese; with carbonara... ), couscous and risotto, but will try most things still. The last few days she has shown a tendency to refuse things that Chris offers her, but accept things that I offer her (to the extent where Chris offered her slice of cheese, which she refused; he then passed it to me and I offered it to her and she took it, ate it and said 'Mmmm'). But she laughs when doing it, so it's probably some kind of game to her, rather than an early declaration of vegetarianism!

Speech/communication: This is fantastic, though she's coming along so fast now that we can't always work out what she's saying (much easier when it was just one word at a time). The vast majority of the time she can ask for what she wants, tell us what she's been doing, talk about a book, talk about TV show, talk to teddies, animals, etc. Occasionally, she will revert to pointing and saying 'That, that', but not very often. She's coming to terms with pronouns (can mostly differentiate between me/I and you, though still gets the muddled up, e.g. 'Pick you up.'). She's fully conversant with the present participle (I'm pooing, I'm hopping, I'm walking, I'm sitting, I'm yawning, etc.) and understands 'can' and 'can't' now as well (I can walk, I can't reach, I can climb, etc.). She can express her likes and dislikes quite well (I like, I don't like, I love, I really do love, I want, I really want, I need, I really need) (the addition of really may well be influenced by Charlie and Lola!). Her pronunciation is pretty good these days, as well, to the extent that other people understand her a lot of the time, as well as us. She can repeat back most words that are said to her (including in French, Spanish and Esperanto - and quit possibly others) with fairly good accuracy. Her intonation and accent can swap between mine and Chris' (and one her Grandma and Grandpa were visiting there was definite inclinations towards stronger Scottish intonations).

Intellectual development: Seems to be very good as well. I was surprised the other day, when looking at a book with her how many things she could recognise and point at. On every page, she could point to almost everything I asked (e.g. bucket, spade, butterfly, elephant, octopus, book, computer, lamp, torch, Mummy, Daddy, boy, girl, ice cream, etc. etc.), which I read somewhere recently is a 2-3 year milestone. She knows that if she can't reach something, she can, for example, pull a chair over to climb on. She knows the buttons to press on the remote controls and phones to turn them off. She knows that switching a light off will make it dark. She recognises when she's going somewhere familiar and can show people which way to go. She remembers (for the most part) what she can and can't get away with with different people! She remembers people more, even in their absence (talks a lot about Grandma and Grandpa, even though it's almost a month since they were here), talks about going to see Nana (my Granny) a lot, and talks about Granny and Eva a lot too, and Rupert and Emma and Holli.

Emotional development: She's a lot happier to be on her own for a bit and amuse herself, though she does still have clingy moments when she doesn't want to be put down at all. She's made great inways into the terrible twos already and can get frustrated quite easily if she is denied something (whether by us or by her inability to do something). She's definitely started to test boundaries and we're having to try to develop strategies for this. She does throw herself on the floor and even stomps. (She even says 'I'm stomping'!) and has new 'cry' that is so fake it's almost funny. She's (see above) happier to sleep on her own in her own bed now and is not waking up as much. If she's tired, she can be very grumpy and have a very short tether.

Social development: She's starting to interact more with other children, talking to them and sharing things with them. She's very gentle with little babies and animals (though not always with Wesley!) stroking and cuddling them. She will still snatch things from peers sometimes, but usually gives them back with a little prompting. She's also started asking them for things when she wants them before taking them. Unfortunately, they're not all quite at the same stage so, while saying 'Pass me the teapot, please.' would work very well with an adult, it doesn't tend to with another toddler! She has yet to (and hopefully won't ever, but I know it's not unusual) show any inclination to hit, bite or otherwise hurt other children, though she will sometimes pinch us very hard or pull our hair intentionally.

Likes: One of her favourite pastimes when in her bedroom is to 'play with monies'. This involves emptying all the money out of her two piggybanks (the boy and the girl) and putting it back in bit by bit, then doing it all over again, and again, and again. The last few days she has deviated somewhat by also putting money in her pocket, in the potty, in drawers, etc. She also has a new Matroyshka (Russian doll) which lives on her window sill and she likes to open out all the way and then put together all the way, and again, and again... Last week she had 'The Cat and the Hat' cartoon (60s version, not the new film) out from the library and watched it about a billion times. She really, really, really liked it. She danced to it, she laughed lots when one of the Things fell down the stairs. She would say 'Oh no. It's raining.' at the start and talk about other bits of it, too. She hardly watched any CBeebies that whole week. It's gone back to the library now and she doesn't seem to have noticed, thank goodness. We were very sick of it! She's still really into Charlie and Lola, but also likes Dora the Explorer a lot now, too. She's wanting to be read to a lot more again, too, especially in her room (where she is spending more time, now that there is the bed, wardrobe, bookcase and, of course, the 'monies'), having been a bit bored with books (at least in comparison to before) for a few weeks. She's also enjoying pointing things out in books more and talking about them.

Dislikes: Having to be in her buggy instead of walking/running around. Not being allowed to do something that she wants to do.

Developmental worries: None.

New tricks/skills: Sleeping in a big girl's bed!!!

Monthly update

Apologies for missing this out the past two months. Not sure what happened there. We've been quite busy, of course, but still usually manage it!

AGE She'll be 14 months on Friday.

WEIGHT/SIZE OF CLOTHES No idea of weight. She's mostly in 12-18 months clothes, with some 9-12 months. A lot trousers need r

NAPPIES/POTTY Pampers Easy Up Size 5. Likes to sit on her potty, but so far only got one poop in there and that only because I saw she was starting to poop and put it under her. What she does like to do, though, is pick the potty up and put down near the door and then squat in front of it and pee or poop. So she's got the association. Just not quite the whole thing yet. And today, with her Granny, she did a pee in the potty - helped by Granny putting some toilet roll into the potty, for some reason. Yay!

FOOD She's still breastfeeding. Still a few times during the night, as well as 2-3 times in the day. Also has cow's milk.

Breakfast: She loves her Cheerios. She also has a banana and crumpet with Philadelphia. (Sometimes this varies to Weetabix/Porridge and toast and sometimes will also have different fruit.

Lunch: Usually toast and Philadelphia and some fruit or vegetables. If there's left-over something she'll have some of that as well.

Dinner: Whatever I/we're having. She now has her lion plat, which is bigger and has separations in it, so she can different things in different compartments. And she doesn't pick it up and try to tip it all over herself, which is good. She tries to use the spoon or fork, but mostly just uses her fingers. She'll take the spoon/fork from us and put it straight in her mouth, but hasn't yet developed the ability to load it up herself. She seems to eat more when we have visitors - possibly because we're concentrating less on her.

Snacks: She has breadsticks and Organix rice cakes for snacks. We've stopped (for the most part - occasionally still do) giving dried fruit as a snack as it's supposed to be really bad for the teeth. If it's market day, I'll usually buy a few plums and let her eat those. Have to watch very carefully to catch the stone before it goes in her mouth, though!

Drinks: Water, cow's milk and breastmilk.

SLEEP

Nighttime: Usually goes to sleep at about 10pm, though will sometimes go earlier, especially if she's been to toddler group. She usually gets up about 7.30 am/8 am, though will sometimes sleep later. She wakes, generally, at 1.30 am and 4 am, and sometimes 6 am as well and needs breastfeeding to get back to sleep. She sometimes wakes at other times but usually gets herself back to sleep or goes back to sleep with a little rocking.

Daytime naps: Usually sleeps 11 am-1 pm, though this can sometimes only last an hour and sometimes last 3 hours and sometimes start later or earlier. Often sleeps 5pm-7pm or something along those lines, but is often cutting this nap out.

MOBILITY Running around all over the place. Still falls over a bit, but mostly manages to catch herself and right herself before doing so now. Can practically run up the stairs, but no idea how to come down them still. Climbs everywhere - up onto our bedside tables, onto the coffee table, foot stool, onto her small chair... Has some reins for walking about outside, though will do without if we're in the park or somewhere not too dangerous. Loves getting out and walking in the park (to the point where she now expects it and gets upset if she's stuck in her buggy).

COMMUNICATION Bye bye. Thank you. Hiya. There you go. Up. Bump. Stay (this when we're letting the dog out in the morning; I say 'Sit. Stay.' and she says 'Stay' at the same time as I do). Nap nap (nappy). More. Bath. Quack quack. Oo oo (monkey sound). Eeeeeowwwie (the sound Scarface Claw makes in Hairy Maclairy). Babbles away while reading her books or playing with her cuddly toys. Gives kisses. Does actions for a lot of rhymes and books. Quite often repeats things back to us now. Apparently she said 'Merry Christmas' a lot today to her Granny, for example. Another example, 'Shall we see to the dog?' and she'll say 'See to dog.' or similar. You get the picture, I'm sure.

LIKES & DISLIKES Likes such a lot - reading and being read to (especially where there are special voices and sounds at the moment), drawing (and eating the crayons), walking through the park, her height chart (which has pictures of lots of different wild animals on it), the ocean picture in her room (and pictures and maps and so on, in general), cuddling and kissing her toys, going to toddler group, having visits from her Granny and Auntie Eva, chasing the dog, singing and dancing... I could probably go on for days! Dislikes not much - the usual problem for her age when being told 'No' - for the most part she can't understand why she can't take the Sky card out of the digibox, take a knife out of the dishwasher, take Eva's glasses away, pick the dog's bowl up, go out in the rain with no shoes on, type on the keyboard when Mummy/Daddy have work on the computer... But... she's getting better at understanding that there are things she can't do and she'll now almost do them, but then say 'Nah ah' and wag her finger. For example, she'll start climbing up onto the box in her room where her night light sits, but won't properly climb on and will turn and look at me, smile, shake her head and say 'Nah ah'. She did a similar thing today in the park with her Granny - Granny asked her not to walk on the grass, because it was wet and so she walked along the path, going very close to the grass and then coming away and shaking her head...

FAV TOYS She's quite into her spinning top at the moment. She really enjoys most of her cuddly toys now. She loves anything that makes music. She's getting a bit more into shape sorters and jigsaw type toys, though they're not her favourite. Probably her favourite toy, actually, is my mobile phone, which is getting somewhat of a beating. Hopefully I'll be due for an upgrade soon!

FAV BOOKS She's quite fond of Hairy Maclairy and quite enjoys Skinny Malinky. She loves most of her Maisy books and still likes the little Baby Einstein books, with Dogs and Babies being her favourite. She's getting to know a lot of the books well, now, and can say things (e.g. No and Yes with the Where's Panda? book and Where's Spot? Eeeeeowieee in Hairy Maclairy, holding hands and so on in I Like it When and doing a lot of the actions in one of the books that lives in her room ('Growl' and 'Shh', moving hand up and down for seesaw, waving bye-bye to a balloon, etc.)

FAV TV PROGRAMMES Still doesn't really watch TV. She has shown some interest in the Muppets and Snow White when they've been put on. She has watched an episode and a bit of In the Night Garden, which she seemed to enjoy quite a lot. She's recently been watching some things on the CBeebies Internet site (she really enjoyed the Something Special song about the weather and the Tweenies rap song, for example).

NEW TRICK LEARNT THIS MONTH Lots more talking. Improved on the walking. Interest in the potty. Don't think there's anything specifically new, just a lot more understanding and more ability to make herself understood, though much more frustration when she can't.

OTHER INFO/NEWS

Teeth: She's got another couple at the top front and possibly some more coming through further back.

Jabs: She has now had all her jabs until she'll get the MMR booster just before school. She had a bit of a cold after these last ones, but it's pretty much gone now.

Monthly update

AGE She'll be 10 months on Tuesday

WEIGHT/SIZE OF CLOTHES Don't know about weight. Most of her clothes now are 9-12 months, though she still just fits some of her 6-9 months clothes and her shoes are actually 0-6 months, though will probably need the 6-12 months soon.

NAPPIES Size 4 Huggies Little Walkers

FEED Breastfeeds = 6 per day (rough times = midnight, 5am, 7am, 12noon, 5pm, 9pm); very occasionally more during the night, if she's having a bad night. When she had her cold, which is almost gone now, she was having more, roughly every couple of hours, even during the night. We assumed the cold was the reason, although she has been eating a lot more solids the last couple of days, so perhaps it was a growth spurt instead.

Breakfast = half a banana, some fridge fruit or fresh fruit; crumpet with Philadelphia. If we're having breakfast out, she'll have some fruit and a croissant or something similar.

Lunch = toast and Philadelphia or pate of some kind; fruit; sometimes left-over vegetables or dinner food; sometimes a cheese sandwich or cheese on toast. If we're out, then a bit of what one or both of us is having (e.g. had some nachos the other day - though not the chillis!).

Dinner = Whatever I am having and sometimes some of what Chris is having, if he's having something different (e.g. a fish finger, some bolognese, some sausage, some ham, etc.). She loved having spaghetti recently. She often has either steamed vegetables or roasted vegetables. She enjoyed cucumber and cherry tomatoes recently as well. I accidentally bought some pureed vegetable/fruit mixtures from the health food shop (thought they were juices) and she enjoyed those - even being spoon fed them! She seems to be eating more at the moment, though we don't know if that's building herself up after her cold or that she's had a growth spurt or she's just about to get a tooth or maybe that she's just ready for solid food to be her main nutrition now (she's only a couple of months away from a year old, after all). There's a lot less food going on the floor, that's for sure, which I'm sure Wesley finds upsetting.

SLEEP Tends to sleep from about 9pm through to about midnight (sometime 1am/2am), when she wakes for a feed, then goes back to sleep until 4am/5am, when she wakes for another feed and then sleeps through to 6am/7am, wakes for another feed then goes back to sleep for a bit (sometimes just half an hour, sometimes a couple of hours) when she wakes up properly and plays with her cot toys for a bit. She usually has a nap in the morning and sometimes one in the afternoon and often one in the early evening. These can all vary from 15 minutes to 2 hours and there doesn't seem to be any consistency in when/why they vary (that I can tell, anyway!).

MOBILITY She can run holding on to us. She can just about walk holding on to us by one hand. She's climbing over things and standing on tiptoes. She can stand for a brief moment without holding on to anything, but quickly falls on her bum. She's recently worked out that she can shuffle backwards on her bum, using her toes to manoeuvre herself. She watches her toes with great concentration while she's doing it as well. My prediction that she'd be walking by the end of May was wrong. So I'll up it to the end of June, now. Definitely before her first birthday, I would think.

LIKES & DISLIKES She likes so much. She's such a happy baby. She squeals with delight at lots of things (especially seeing her daddy, granny and her mummy if she hasn't seen me for a while). The gurgles away to herself and sits reading books (looking in them, turning the pages and gurgling) or chatting to her cuddly toys. She wants to be out and walking/running around as much as possible, and doesn't like stopping in the buggy for long or being carried around. She loves going outside. She's quite impatient when waiting for food. She dislikes having her face wiped after eating. She doesn't like being tired in a car seat still, as we discovered at the weekend. She was fine on the way to the bird park, but coming back she screamed and screamed.

(I really hate that. There are no situations where she is left to scream for that long and there is no way that she can understand that it's the law (and for her own safety, of course) and so I can't get her out and comfort her. On public transport, she can move about and have a cuddle and/or a feed. In a car/Em's bus, she's stuck. If she went in a car seat more often, then presumably she'd be used to it and it wouldn't bother her. Or she'd understand that it's OK to fall asleep in the seat. But this was the first time she'd been in one since Christmas, when she also screamed and screamed. And people think we should have a car?! I don't think so.)

FAV TOYS What she likes a lot at the moment is pulling things out of boxes or off shelves. She loves her V-Tech walker, though not walking with it yet as it goes too fast on our floorboards. She loves standing at it and pushing all the buttons and she's worked out which bit makes it play music and she stands there dancing to the music. Since we've got a TV downstairs again, she's taken to playing with the buttons on the front of it, so she'll change the volume or channel numerous times and giggle profusely. The simplest things can amuse her still - a camera film holder that rolls along the floor, a Christmas bauble that bounces and spins, a piece of paper that crinkles. The dogs bowls seem to be very interesting to her at the moment and she frequently sets off at a super-speed crawl from the living room to the dining room straight for his bowls. It's possible that if she was actually allowed to play with them, they'd lose interest, of course!

FAV BOOKS She's just taken back her favourite to the library, though she'd started to get bored with it, I think. It was 'Where's Maisy?' and had flaps to open on each page, but the last page had a door (behind which was Maisy - sorry to spoil the surprise for you!) and she would knock knock on the book, because it says 'Knock knock'. She still loves her Dogs book that lives in her cot. There's an alphabet book which has plastic sliding doors behind which hide pictures. She's likes openeing and shutting doors. She loves having her bedtime stories and her granny reading to her (her granny's very good at doing silly voices and sounds), and generally she enjoys having a bit of quiet time reading (either with us or on her own) a few times a day.

FAV TV PROGRAMMES She still doesn't watch TV, though see above about changing the volume and the channel. She does now like walking up to the TV and patting it and sometimes squealing at some of the people on it.

NEW TRICK LEARNT THIS MONTH Waving hello and goodbye. Pointing with one finger. Bum shuffling. Standing still without holding on to anything.

SPEECH She says dog, duck, dada, good, up, hiya, bath and yeah. Duck is the one she says the most and the one that clearly does mean what it says.

OTHER INFO/NEWS She met her brand new cousin Rupert on Monday. She's now no longer the youngest on either side of the family. Although she is still the youngest girl on both sides. She was very taken with Rupert, although she had a cold so couldn't go too near him. Hopefully they'll be able to grow up being good friends, as they're close in age.

Monthly update

AGE 9 months tomorrow (38 weeks tomorrow)

WEIGHT/SIZE OF CLOTHES weight = 16lb 1oz; clothes = a mixture of 6-9 months and some 9-12 months. Her new hat is 0-6 months as the next size up was huge on her!

NAPPIES Size 4 Huggies Little Walkers

FEED Breastfeeds = 5-6 per day (rough times = 3am 6am, [8am], 12noon, 5pm, 9pm); very occasionally more during the night, if she's having a bad night; the one in brackets she's often cutting out and just going straight to breakfast, though then has the 12 noon one a bit earlier.

Breakfast = half a banana, some fridge fruit or fresh fruit; crumpet with Philadelphia. If we're having breakfast out, she'll have some fruit and a croissant or something similar.

Lunch = toast and Philadelphia, cashew nut butter, tartex, or other pate; fruit; sometimes left-over vegetables or dinner food; sometimes a cheese sandwich or similar. If we're out, then a bit of what one or both of us is having (e.g. had some tortilla and some risotto the other in the Angel).

Dinner = Whatever I am having and sometimes some of what Chris is having, if he's having something different (e.g. a fish finger, some bolognese, some sausage, some ham, etc.). She has a piece of fruit to start and finish and sometimes a frozen fruit penguin (shaped ice cubes made with fruit juice). I make sure there's a good balance - vegetables, protein and carbohydrate and try to vary it from night to night, though don't manage as much variety as I'd like.

SLEEP Tends to sleep from about 9pm through to 3am, when she wakes for a feed, then goes back to sleep until 5.30 or 6am, when she wakes for another feed and then sleeps through to 7 or 8am. 4am or 5am, when she wakes for a brief breastfeed and then goes back to sleep until around 7am. During the day, she'll have a number of naps, usually one in the morning, one in mid-afternoon and one in the late afternoon/early evening. The exact time varies and she'll sleep either in her buggy, on our bed or in her cot (though the latter not very often).

MOBILITY She's crawling around really fast now. She's pushing up onto all fours. She's able to sit up herself now from a lying down or crawling. She's pulling herself up on furniture. She can walk, and even run, when we're holding her hadns. She's still enjoying her bouncer, especially with music to dance to. She's got a walker, but she's not quite ready for it, as it goes a bit fast on our floorboards. She'll happily crawl around in the office or living room and amuse herself for ages, though obviously one of us needs to be in the room keeping an eye on her. But she doesn't need constant adult attention anymore. (That's not to say she doesn't get plenty, of course!)

LIKES She likes everything, practically. She's a very cheerful baby and smiles and chatters away when we're out and about. Chris has been doing something recently that I can't describe - it's kind of a dance and song, made with nonsense words, but that doesn't really get it across properly - which she finds absolutely hilarious. She's really enjoying her bath in the evening and especially likes playing with the bath thermometer. She loves going out in the buggy and has a big grin/giggle when you open the door.

DISLIKES Not a great deal. She gets a bit impatient in her high-chair when waiting for food. She can get a bit grumpy when she's tired. And that's about it. She doesn't like it when she hurts herself, thogh quite often she'll have a little tumble or bump but not be at all bothered, while we're expecting her to start screaming.

FAV TOYS She really likes her cot toy. She's recently discovered some Christmas baubles and loves chasing them round the office. She got a little car with a dog in it that barks and likes pushing that along the floor.

FAV BOOKS Her favourite book at the moment is 'If you see a cuddly kitten', which is a library book that has been renewed a number of times. If you start saying the words and the book is in the room, she'll often go over to it.

FAV TV PROGRAMMES She doesn't really watch any TV. Occasionally, she'll sit on the bed in the early evening while one of watches something, but usually she'll be playing with her toys or us. She'll occasionally glance up at an advert or the football.

NEW TRICK LEARNT THIS MONTH Cruising, sitting up herself from lying/crawling/etc., pulling herself up on lots of things (I predict walking by the end of May), amusing herself for considerably long periods of time (with one of us in the room).

SPEECH She's very vocal, and we've all almost heard words, or heard almost words. She says Mama and Dada a lot, but we're never entirely sure if she's referring to us. Ma often seems to mean 'Give it to me.' and Ma-Ma often seems to mean 'I'm tired and want some milk'. Da-Da-Da often seems to mean 'Yay! This is fun!'. This morning she sat talking to her little lion mirror (or to the little girl in the mirror!) for about ten minutes. She's also started doing conversations - i.e. pausing for you to say something back. She's still doing the Ah!Ah! shout anywhere where it's going to echo.

OTHER INFO/NEWS She had her 9-month check on Wednesday and the health visitor was very happy with her. before weighing her she said that she clearly looked very healthy and happy. She weighed her and measured her height and head circumference and they're all between 2nd and 9th centile, so she's perfectly proportioned. She made lots of comments about how happy and alert she is (which a lot of people do, actually, so I guess perhaps she's more cheerful/alert than others her age?).

Monthly update

AGE 8 months on Thursday (34 weeks, 3 days)

WEIGHT/SIZE OF CLOTHES weight = somewhere around 16lb, I think, from a very unscientific weighing experiment at her granddad's (i.e. I stand on the scales; I then stand on the scales holding Rosemary and substract the latter figure from the former); clothes = mostly 6-9 months, some 9-12 months (looks like she'll be moving into 9-12 months vests very soon) and a few 3-6 months.

NAPPIES size 4 Pampers, Active Fit; usually 4 or 5 changes a day, but occasional 'pooping days' mean more nappies.

FEED Breastfeeds = 6 per day (rough times = 5am, 8am, 12noon, 3pm 6pm, 9pm); occasionally more during the night, if she's having a bad night.

Breakfast = fruit (if I'm eating breakfast with her, it'll be a variety as I'll have a fruit salad myself so, for example, banana, apple, pear, plum and grape; if I'm not eating breakfast, it'll be some of the 'tub fruit', which is fruit in a plastic tub from Waitrose, kept in fruit juice, with no added anything), crumpet with Philadelphia or just butter, and occasionally last night's dinner, especially if she's missed it by sleeping through it (which has happened maybe twice!).

Lunch = toast and Philadelphia, cashew nut butter, tartex, or other pate; fruit; sometimes left-over vegetables or dinner food (e.g. had some lasagne for lunch the other day); sometimes something different if we're having lunch out (e.g. had some croissant stuffed with feta cheese and caramlised red onion the other day in Star Anise).

Dinner = Pretty much what I am having / we are having. I now think about Rosemary when deciding what to have for my dinner. Chris will still sometimes have things that she can't really have (e.g. meat that she can't really chew) but, for example, we always have vegetables that she'll be able to hold (e.g. steamed carrot, brocolli; roasted Mediterranean vegetables cut in sticks) and some kind of protein that she'll be able to hold (e.g. vegetable fingers, fish fingers, sausages of veggie or non-veggie origin, cheese, omelette, macaroni cheese, etc.). Almost everything she has is 'finger food' and she feeds herself. Sometimes there's something that's not easy for her to pick up (e.g. mashed potato, baked beans) and then we load up the spoon and she feeds herself with it. She tends to dislike us trying to actually 'spoon feed' her. She's ocassionally used the spoon to get something herself, but not with any real control. I have no idea when 'normal-fed' babies are supposed to start using a spoon/fork themselves, but it feels like Rosemary will be doing so quite early.

SLEEP Tends to sleep from about 9pm through to 4am or 5am, when she wakes for a brief breastfeed and then goes back to sleep until around 7am. (The start and end times can move around an hour or two.) She will sometimes have a bad night, when she's waking a lot and last week, she was mostly waking once at around 1 or 2am, as well. Sometimes the waking seems to be tooth-related, though there's still no sign of any of them, and sometimes we think it might be indigestion, or just a mini-growth spurt (e.g. last week's waking an extra time).

MOBILITY She's now crawling, though it's still mostly arm work (i.e. pulling herself forward on her arms, with ocasional boosts from her legs/feet). She'll take loads of steps when being held by her hands or waist, though can't balance on her own yet. She can hold herself upright against a piece of furniture and just about pull herself upright, though not very often. Not started cruising yet, which gives us a bit of breathing space. We've just managed to clear space in the living room for her to crawl (it was full of the contents of our basement, which is flooded and has been since January) and it will be good to have a week or so before we have to worry about making all the furniture stable for potential cruising! She's loving bouncing in her bouncer now, especially with some music on. She particularly seems to enjoy it when one of us dancing along!

LIKES Talking, singing, the slide at the park, chasing things round the room (especially, it seems, the dog's toys, despite all our best efforts!), going out for walks in her buggy, her Granny (and auntie Eva and Granddad, but she's been spending lots of time with her Granny, and is particularly attached to her, which is lovely), toys that play music, making sounds herself with objects (e.g. banging things, shaking things, etc.), bath-time, her mummy and daddy (of course!), books (especially into the 'Roses' book at the moment, and still really likes her 'Peek-a-boo' book that her great-great-aunt Stella gave her), remote controls, phones and many other 'grown-up' things!

DISLIKES Being bored (though she doesn't get much chance of that!), getting stuck on her back (most of the time she remembers that she can roll over and get into crawling position, but sometimes she doesn't and gets frustrated), waiting for food (she's really very impatient when sitting in her high-chair, unless there's food in front of her!), having her nose wiped, being tired but not able to fall asleep.

FAV TV PROGRAMME She hasn't really been watching that much. If we're watching something she's usually more interested in playing with her toys or 'talking' to us. She tends to look up when there's a song (especially in a musical) and also when there are adverts on. She's hardly had the baby channel on at all, as she has far too many other things to amuse her now that she's mobile.

NEW TRICK LEARNT THIS MONTH Crawling, waving bye-bye (but only seems to want to do so to her auntie Eva!), saying 'hello' (maybe?!).

SPEECH She may have said her first word yesterday. She came in from the park with her Granny and Granddad and I said 'Hello' to her and it really seemed like she said 'Hello' back to me, twice. But we couldn't get her to repeat it, so it may have just been coincidence. She really sounds like she's saying Mama quite often - particularly if she's upset at night. Apparently the M sound is an upset sound, though, while P and D sounds are happy sounds, so it might just be that. She's really vocal now, and mixing up the sounds a huge amount. When she's spent a lot of time with her Granny or her Daddy, she spends ages telling me all about it. She'll sometimes talk for half an hour. She also sometimes does the same after a big sleep, and it seems she's telling me all about her dreams. She frequently talks/sings when in the buggy.

Monthly update

Copied and pasted the following from a babyworld post, as I thought it would interest some of you:

AGE 7 months tomorrow (weeks = no idea!)

WEIGHT/SIZE OF CLOTHES weight = no idea; clothes = some 3-6 months, but many 6-9 months now

NAPPIES size 4 Pampers

FEED BLW = fair bit of breastfeeding still, usually 1 big bf c. 7am, 1 big bf c. 9.30am, breakfast (fruit, crumpets, toast, sometimes night before's steamed or roasted veg) c. 10.30am, 1 smal bf c. 11am, 1 big bf c. 1pm, lunch (toast, fruit/veg, or whatever I'm having, within reason) c. 2.30 pm, 1 small bf c. 3pm, 1 big bf c. 5pm, 1 small bf c. 7pm, dinner (whatever we're having - usually steamed or roasted sticks of vegetable of some kind and main course, such as cheesy pasta, tortilla, stuffed pancake... whatever) c. 7.30pm, 1 small bf c. 8.30pm, 1 big bf c. 10pm. Teething biscuits as snacks during the day, especially while she waits for me/Chris to prepare some food, while in her high-chair!

SLEEP In her own room and big cot now! Tends to sleep from between 10pm and 11pm through to between 6am and 7am, then usually goes back for a couple of hours after about 15-20min breastfeed. Tends to have a nap around 11am, for anything between 30mins and 2 hours. Tends to have another nap in the afternoon, while in her buggy. Sometimes she'll stay awake when we get home and sometimes she'll wake up for a while and have a small nap an hour or so later. Ocassionally has another small nap before dinner.

MOBILITY Very mobile, even though not yet actually crawling. Rolls about all over the place, pushes herself backwards when lying on her back - especially on the changing mat (thank goodness we don't have a high-up changing station!). Sits up unaided, though will topple over frequently still. Has pulled herself forward on her tummy a few times, though not quite actually crawling. Can hold herself up when standing for a while, though not pulling herself up yet. I think she's going to be running around any minute now.

LIKES Action rhymes (Row Row Row Your Boat, The Grand Old Duke of York, Horsie Horsie, Ride a Cock Horse, Five Little Ducks), books (especially touchy feely ones, at the moment - but generally likes looking at the pictures now, not just eating them!), baths, her new buggy mobile thing, the Winnie the Pooh musical mobile above her cot, me saying 'moo', me singing 'Bee-Bop-A-Lula' (or however you spell it), her shape sorters (both of which play tunes, which is the part she likes the most), her Jemima doll (raggedy-Ann style doll), especially when her dad makes it fly quickly towards her, dancing, people smiling at her, crumpets, mango, Philadelphia.

DISLIKES Pineapple, me coughing (especially I'm holding her), getting her last few clothes put on in the morning, sitting in queues in shops if she's trying to get to sleep.

FAV TV PROGRAMME Likes adverts a lot, as they're of a good time span for her, and they tend to have music and bright colours. Likes the baby channel, though doesn't get to watch it too often. Still likes close-ups of people talking to the screen.

NEW TRICK LEARNT THIS MONTH Sitting up, sleeping in her own room, falling asleep on her daddy (though only done that once; she is still predominantly nursed to sleep, except when she falls asleep in her buggy when out and about), eating solid food.

SPEECH Making lots of different sounds. Especially likes doing a high-pitched squeal, which my friend describes as her 'rape alarm sound'. She also likes growling (perhaps learnt from the dog?). She makes M sounds particularly when tired and has also got into making P sounds and recently D sounds. She's been making B sounds for a while now, and a bunch of different vowel sounds. Occasionally she looks like she's really straining to actually say something (especially when 'talking' to her toys).