Jessica’s blog.

As it was Gabriella’s birthday, I took the day off so we could spend it together as a family.

Gabriella had a lie-in and got up around the time that Jessica had her morning nap. In the afternoon after Jessica had had her lunch, we went to Tilgate Park, which isn’t too far away, where they’ve got a Nature Centre. We have been before but the weather was so foul that day, that we weren’t able to wander round properly. Thankfully it was dry this time and Jessica was able to get out of the pushchair to see the animals properly.

Before we’d had chance to get Jessica out, two inquisitive turkeys came up to take a look. So brazen were they, that one tried to nab her Tummen rattle. As it’s attached to the pushchair, the bandit bird didn’t get very far with it. Before they came even closer, we decided that we should move on to look at the cockatiels.

Jessica showed as much interest in them as she does birds in our garden and was capitivated by the bright colours – at least I think that’s why she was looking at them for so long.

From there, we moved onto a pen with cockerels, hens and guinea pigs in. The nature centre is so obviously designed for children: the railing for the pen was the ideal height for Jessica to look over (and under!) and again she seemed really interested in the wee beasties.

Having looked at the hens etc for a while, Jessica decided that Daddy needed to go for a walk and shot off at fair old speed, dragging him along with her.

We soon found our way to some more pens, with larger animals.

Jessica showing her delight at seeing some goats, before moving onto look at a pig sty with Mummy.

By now it was getting near Jessica’s afternoon fed, so we all headed to the cafe where Gabriella took the following photo.

We headed home after we’d all had a drink as Jessica was starting to get tired: her current cold seems to drain her of energy. It was a lovely afternoon for all of us and very relaxed.

There’s been quite a few thing s that I’ve been meaning to write about for a while. Jessica’s getting more and more confident on her feet, sometimes she’ll even run short distances between things totally unsupported. When she does lead me on tours round the house, clutching one of my fingers, more for reassurance than support really, I’m finding that it’s easier on my back now she’s getting taller.

Last weekend, I witnessed something Gabriella has experienced a few times too. I’d brought a load of washing through out the machine and plonked them on the settee, ready to start hanging it. Jessica, on seeing the clothes, promptly came over to ‘help’. I use the term very loosely, as she is really insistent that clothes belong on the floor. She is really very determined, throwing them with great gusto and paid no attention to Daddy explaining that he really didn’t want the clothes on the floor. It was a battle, but eventually I managed to hang them to dry, using all sorts of distraction techniques.

A game that Jessica never seems to tire of is peek-a-boo. It doesn’t really matter what’s used to hide behind or who’s hiding. One of her favourites is round/behind her high chair. She also like hiding behind her bib and then appearing. Probably her favourite though is where I put a muslin over her head and one over my own: she shrieks with glee once she’s first pulled hers off then mine. It’s such a happy sound!

Ian.

Have forgotten to mention Jessica’s teeth! After a bit of a pause after her first tooth at Christmas, she cut her second tooth (in the top jaw, front left) on 19 January and her third (bottom jaw, front right) on 25 January, plus a fourth one is just under the surface in her top jaw, on the right hand side. Her cheek’s been hot and red and she has occasionally moaned with a hand in her mouth, in response to which I’ve given her Calpol and a bit of teething gel, but otherwise we haven’t really noticed anything particular from her teething. I’ve heard some babies get nappy rash and some cry a lot, but none of those have applied to Jessica.

She’s been dribbling a lot, but that’s been continuous and not necessarily more or less because of a certain stage of a tooth being cut, so I guess that’s just how some babies come – I’ve been told I used to dribble a lot as a baby, and Ian too, so she’s inherited it from both of us… Once she’s a bit older, her dribbling should hopefully stop. At the moment, we keep bibs on her pretty much all the time (apart from when she sleeps), so that her clothes won’t get wet and soak through. Her wearing bibs may not look the most flattering, but the alternative would be that she’d get a red, sore chest and we’d have to change her top regularly, and that doesn’t sound like fun to me.

Another thing I’ve intended to mention is the colour of Jeesica’s hair. It seems to change a little bit from week to week – sometimes day to day – being lighter or darker, redder or blonder. Overall, though, her hair seems to come out more red on photos when we are using flash, than we think it really is. Close up, Jessica’s hair looks blond with strawberry blond highlights. When I saw the film Lost In Translation I couldn’t help compare the colour of Jessica’s hair to that of the actress Scarlett Johansson’s (n.b. not the pink wig Scarlett wears in the bar…!).

Her eyes are still blue – perhaps slightly paler than the early days but still intense.

Gabriella

Last Sunday (20 January) Jessica was 11 months old. Can’t believe it’s almost a year now…! Time has gone so quickly, it’s like she’s been with us forever – in a good way: it’s very hard to imagine life without her.

On Wednesday (23 January) Jessica and I were over at her farmor Diana and farfar Albert’s for the whole day for the second time. Ian drove us over, as he will be taking Jessica there on Wednesdays in future, and it was a good test run to see how it would all work. We left at about 8.15am and it took us as long as half an hour due to traffic, so next time we’ll leave a bit earlier and see if that helps.

In the afternoon, Diana and I took Jessica over to the health visitor weighing clinic to have her weighed as close to her 11 month day as possible. It wasn’t very busy but Jessica still had time to explore some of the toys and beam at a couple of babies. When another mum and baby arrived, she was suddenly off into the hallway, one hand touching the side of the archway and then the side of a bookshelf as she hurried past…! It was a new experience to have to hurry after to catch her, but I was so proud of her confidence and how steady she was on her feet. When she got to sit on the scales she kept very still, so her weight was quickly noted as 11.4 kilos (25lb 2oz) – in line with her previous progress.

Jessica seems to really enjoy staying at Ian’s parents, busy walking around exploring their house, and Diana and Albert are building up a bit of a toy collection for her, so that she’ll have plenty of new and exciting things to entertain her when she’s there. She’s also slept in the cot in their library a few times both morning and afternoon now, so she’s getting used to that too. I’ve popped out every so often to get Jessica used to the idea of me not being there, though unfortunately mainly while she’s had her morning nap… Next time I should probably keep away for a bit longer, maybe pop out for lunch. Diana and Albert seem to be enjoying themselves very much too, which is lovely. Both Ian and I are very keen on them being active grandparents (which they certainly seem keen on too) and for Jessica to build a close relationship with them – that can only be a good thing for everyone involved.

Yesterday Jessica and I went over to one of the mums from the post-natal group for lunch again. Some of them see each other more often but Jessica and I are a bit at a disadvantage as I don’t drive (yet) and can’t just hop in the car on impulse to go to Redhill or Reigate, and we hadn’t seen anyone since December some time. The other mums have offered us a lift but it’s also down to me being slightly disorganised… Not everyone could make it this time but there were still five of us mums with babies, including the hostess Lisa with her Tommy. It’s so nice to see them all grow and develop! Jessica impressed everyone by happily walking about the place. Although the others are now pulling themselves up to stand and some walk with the help of a little trolley, they’re no quite there yet. So I was a proud Mummy, of course…!

We’ll have all our babies’ (well, toddlers now, really) first birthday coming up now soon, of course – the first one being Paula’s Kai on 31st January. The Jessica is next, together with Kelly’s Lily, as they share a birthday on 20 February. I’d like to invite them all around for some birthday cake but am not sure how practical that would be, as I’ll be back at work and we’ll probably have double-glazing put into the house round about that time too… Maybe I’ll think of a way.

Jessica’s room still isn’t ready, as we’re waiting for the damp problem to get sorted and the new windows to be put in. But often after Jessica’s naps we linger a bit to explore what there is to play with up there. There are a few books in her bookshelf that haven’t been brought downstairs and she likes tearing them down from the shelf and look through them. Another fun activity is to grab the bars of her cot and shake. As she’s quite strong now, I half expect the cot to crumble when she does that…! We’re currently looking for a cot bed for her, which will last her a few years, so that her current cot can be passed on to the new (and not quite as strong…) baby.

Unfortunately, Jessica’s suffering from a bit of a cold at the moment. It’s not been too bad so far – she’s just been a bit sniffly – but today she’s got a bit of a cough and is more tired than usual. She’s still cheerful and it’s not a case of her having a temperature, but she runs out of energy quicker. Jessica and I were due to go over to Cara and Daisy’s this afternoon and we still will, but might not stay too long – will see how it goes. Jessica was falling asleep while drinking her morning bottle, though thankfully (with the help of a few nudges) she finished her formula and then I brought her upstairs to bed already for 9.30am. Will see how long she sleeps for.

Gabriella

Lots more have happened since the new year, so here are a few more recaps:

Jessica stayed at the nursery for the second time on Friday, between 1 and 4 in the afternoon again. She’d had a better morning nap this time and was better geared up for it – recognising the place since last time probably also helped. I felt a little bit more at ease leaving her there this time and didn’t spend the three hours away from her fretting and missing her quite as much as last time – I’m getting used to the idea too…! There were a few more children there this time, still all a few years older than Jessica as the other babies had not started yet, but Jessica grabbed the hands of one of the staff and marched right into the thick of things with a big smile on her face.

When I came back to fetch her, she looked tired sitting on the floor playing with a bead frame. The staff told me she’d been playing happily most of the time this time, though a couple of the boys had scared her and made her cry by being noisy. That’s one of those things that she’ll have to get used to though, of course: coping with bigger children. When I kneeled down on the floor next to Jessica, she grabbed my hand to pull herself up and then wanted to start walking about exploring, so I fished her up and we went home. I didn’t try putting her in her cot for an afternoon nap this time, maybe I should have as she was probably very tired after a busy afternoon packed full of new experiences, but she seemed to be buzzing playing at home, so I left her to it.

For the last two weeks, Jessica has been holding her water mug herself and drinking from it more and more often. She started wanting to hold it herself a fair while back, but not quite as successfully – missed her mouth, held it upside-down and poured lots of water in her lap or dropped it. Now she confidently grabs it off the table, drinks and then puts it back. (When she wants to put it back, that is – more often she favours bashing it against the table top and then throwing it on the floor, just to peer over the arm of her highchair at it.)

Jessica got a lift out puzzle from her Auntie Wendy for Christmas and she really likes it: she keeps walking up to it (we’ve put it on the seat of a chair so that she can play with it whilst standing), takes the pieces out one by one and throws them behind her, most of the time without looking where they’re going… A lot of her play at the moment seems to be about picking toys up and throwing them: toys come out of the toy box so that the floor in the living room looks like it’s suffered a minor explosion, and Jessica’s bath toys first get thrown into the bath tub, while she’s standing on the side of it watching her bath water rise, then out of it on the floor once she’s in the tub herself (I usually wash her hair and body first thing but since the new year started I often don’t get a chance to before the sponge flies out of the tub and onto the bath mat…).

Jessica’s nap times during the day have shifted slightly to be a little bit later in the day, but not much, and they’re still fairly predictable: from about 10am she sleeps for 1.5 to 2.5 hours and from around 4pm it can be 45 mins to 1 hr 15 mins. She still seems to sleep quite a lot compared to what I hear about other babies. But sleeping is good, of course: it gives her brain and body chance to grow and develop and gives a few more moments to do things without having to worry about keeping an eye out for her at the same time.

I’m pleased to say that Jessica’s eating my home-cooked food again since before Christmas. Some she seems to like more than others, but I’m glad she appreciates the variety. I’ve made her both a curry and a chilli and she had them both – I didn’t make them too strong of course to start with but they weren’t completely wussy either.
Gabriella

It’s been a long while again, unfortunately. Jessica does new things every day – big and small – and sadly I won’t be able to remember to tell you everything, but I will do my best.

Jessica has several cardboard books now and she loves looking through them, will happily sit down and turn the pages all by herself for 10-15 minutes or spend just as long in my lap looking through books together with me or Ian. I give her a little bit of a helping hand sometimes: even if she’s really good at turning the pages now, she’ll sometimes grab several at the time, especially when she’s ‘speed reading’…! Sometimes I get to talk a fair bit about what’s on the page and she pats them, but sometimes her mission seems to be to turn the pages as quickly as possible. When she does the latter, she has a very determined look on her face, often with her mouth slightly open and her tongue sticking out. (I tend to look at her rather than the books – she’s so gorgeous when she’s concentrating…!)

Monday 7th January Jessica took 5-6 steps on her own, completely without support and without stumbling, halfway across the hallway, from the shoe rack to the living room door and very calmly grabbed the door frame. She has days when she is slightly less confident, but since then she regularly takes 3-4 or more steps from one thing to another (or one of us) and sometimes just stops in the middle of the floor and stands there for a bit without losing her balance. She still prefers to hold somebody’s (read: mine…) hand for speed to get from A to B. I must admit that I’m quite happy to oblige – and also suspect that Jessica didn’t start walking independently as soon as she might have because I’ve helped her along as much as I have… But it’s not a competition, is it – I know she’s clever and capable and I don’t feel there’s any rush. And I also think it very likely that she’s steadier on her feet walking on her own now because she’s got to practise with support for longer.

After New Year, Ian and I took Jessica over to Clark’s in Crawley to buy Jessica her first properly fitted shoes. They measured her feet as 3 1/2 G, which means that they are slightly wider than ‘average’ (F being ‘standard’). They normally had a few different shoes in that size and Ian and I had our eye on a pretty purple shoe (most of them were pink) but when we were there, unfortunately, they only had the one we didn’t like quite as much (a very pink one) in stock. Still, we went ahead and bought those anyway, as we needed to get her a pair of shoes and she won’t be wearing them forever (she’ll grow out of them quicker than we know it…!). She got a size 4 G, so that she has plenty of room for her toes and a bit to grow into, but we could see that she was slightly awkward walking in them, not being used to her feet being quite as big… Still, she didn’t complain when she tried them out but were happily walking about the shop dragging Daddy behind, so we’re pretty confident they’re not uncomfortable. We also bought her a pair of slippers, as she’ll need these for nursery, and didn’t have any choice but a pair of VERY pink slippers, complete with a little white cat with a pink bow on the front of the left one – the cat meows three times if you press it… At that point Ian and I had, however, resigned ourselves to the fact that if we didn’t want to shop around for ages, we had to go with what limited choice there was.

Jessica spent her first few hours in nursery on Friday 11 January. She’ll be starting properly on Friday 1 February, when she’ll spend the whole (8am to 4.30pm) of Thursday and Friday there while I’m at work, and the nursery suggested starting to ease her in already, during two afternoon sessions. While Jessica had her morning nap I was packing a bag for her with nappies and a few other bits and pieces and, embarrassingly, I was crying a bit too… I suspect that I’m finding it harder than Jessica that she’s starting nursery. I’m trying to focus on the fact that she gets a new, exciting experience and that she’ll learn to interact socially independently from me, and that this can only be good for her development. But as I know her and her habits better than anyone and Jessica doesn’t talk yet, I guess I worry that she won’t be understood properly and there will be misunderstandings and frustration as I’m not there to ‘interpret’. But, as my sister pointed out: “at a nursery, they’re professionals”. So I need to rely on them knowing how to take care of her and be ready to loosen the apron strings a little…

Unfortunately, Jessica didn’t sleep quite enough that morning and was a little bit grumpy all morning. When I dropped her off at nursery, I left her sitting on the lap on one of the members of staff, happily playing with an abacus. I kissed her goodbye and told her I’d be back in three hours, but she was too busy to notice me leaving. I was told that most of the kids were on holiday with their families (and that Fridays are quiet anyway), so there were four members of staff to three children, including Jessica. I couldn’t help thinking that was a good start: Jessica would be able to get a bit more attention during her first visit.

When I came to fetch Jessica, I could tell that she was tired. The staff told me that she’d been playing happily for the first hour, then it seemed like she’d realised that I was gone and got a bit grizzly. Remembering that I’d said she hadn’t napped well in the morning, they’d tried putting her in one of their cots but she’d been too busy playing and shaking the bars to go to sleep. They’d also tried putting her in a baby bouncer (Jessica went off those about 4-5 months ago – she just gets frustrated and wants out) and then tried to rock her in her push chair (that’s never really worked) and it didn’t send her to sleep, but the latter seemed to calm her down, presumably as the push chair is familiar to her.

Jessica was pleased to see me when I sat down on the play mat next to her, she wanted help to stand and then grabbed me by the shoulders ‘bouncing’ up and down, then wanted to be off and explore holding me by the hand. She didn’t have an afternoon nap at home either but was a very contented baby until bedtime, playing happily by herself and I didn’t hear a single grumble – my guess was that she was so happy about being home again, she forgot all about being tired…

Regarding Jessica’s bedtime routine, we never got around to introducing a bedtime story and she’s gone back to settling at her normal time again, so presumably her evening restlessness was something temporary. She’s still usually ready for bed at 7pm, unless she’s not napped properly during the day when she might need bed a bit earlier. Ian and I take turns changing her for the night and giving her her last feed – feels nice to do it as a joint thing plus it’s quicker: while one of us changes Jessica’s into her night nappy and pyjama, the other one goes upstairs to check that her room (curtains drawn, no toys on the floor, night light at the ready) and bed (blankets and pillow in place rather than crumpled up in a heap after her last day nap) is ready for the night and then warms her evening bottle of formula. We still feed her by the light of the nightlight in her room before taking her bibs off, putting her in bed, tucking her in, giving her a good night kiss, switching the nightlight off and the baby monitor on, and leaving her to it. Usually, when we put her in bed for the night, she flashes us a big grin and does little ‘star jumps’, then grabs the muslin we let her have to bed with her and rubs her face with it. She rarely grumbles much about being in bed for the night – sometimes we hear her chatting or moaning to herself over the monitor a while before she goes to sleep but very seldom is she upset.

There is so much more to tell, but that’ll have to wait a little longer. Will finish off, though, with a photo of Jessica and Daisy from Monday 14 January when Cara and I met up last with our little babies. (We meet up regularly, although I don’t mention it every time on the blog.)

Gabriella

Jessica’s Uncle Carl-Fredrik left again to catch a plane home early yesterday (Friday 4th January) morning. Jessica really enjoyed him being here: she was giggling and chuckling lots in his company and he was excellent at finding things to do to distract her and cheer her up when she was getting tired or bored. It was great that the two of them got to spend a bit of time together. Carl-Fredrik played lots with Jessica and also fed her her first hardboiled egg, which she seemed to really like.

On Wednesday (2nd January) Carl-Fredrik and I brought Jessica into London for her very first visit…! It was after some hesitation on my part: I didn’t want to get ‘stuck’ in the middle of a world city with a fed-up, screaming baby and a long journey home. But it’d have to be done some time, there’d be two of us to carry the pushchair up and down the stairs in the underground and Jessica might just as well be fine with it all. And I agreed with my brother that I shouldn’t be afraid to attempt new things with Jessica – after all, I’d been apprehensive about the first time I took Jessica out in the pram on my own and now I think nothing of it…

Jessica had a nice long two-hour sleep in the morning, which meant that we couldn’t catch the train we’d first intended to get but on the other hand it meant that Jessica would be more rested. I fed Jessica her lunch on the train (two thirds of a jar of shop-bought cheesy pasta and veg, followed by a handful of whole blueberries and a few sips of water) to save some time and then she got to sit (well, stand and jump up and down, really…) on my lap for the rest of the journey in to Victoria.

Throughout, Jessica seemed happy mainly taking in her surroundings when on the train, in the underground and walking down Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road. There was a chill in the air and a breeze that bit our fingers, so I made Jessica wear her gloves, something she isn’t very keen on in general, but thankfully she didn’t make much of an attempt to take them off. (Usually she shakes and shakes one of her hands until that glove falls off and then she uses her free hand to quickly pull of the other glove – I’ve watched her…!)

As Carl-Fredrik and I had planned to visit a couple of specific shops on separate shopping streets, there was a bit of walking involved and we didn’t get time to actually ‘do’ much. (It probably didn’t help that the underground train on Victoria Line didn’t stop at Victoria, so part of the journey had to be made by a replacement bus, which involved us going back on ourselves a bit as those only went to Pimlico…) We didn’t want to stay too long in London, in case Jessica got really tired but wouldn’t be able to nap in the pushchair with it being so busy around. In the shops, the music was loud and Jessica got a bit bored. So in Habitat I unwrapped and took her out of the pushchair for a bit to let her look around, which cheered her up straight away. She wanted to push the pushchair around while I was holding her, but that tends to make my arm muscles ache after not too long, so I let her walk around for a little bit instead (though the floor was slippery and she started reaching for the stacked sale crockery, so not for very long…).

On the return journey, we didn’t have to wait long at Victoria for our train to come in. I fed Jessica her afternoon bottle when we’d got on board and then had the pleasure of changing her nappy for the first time on a train… It wasn’t too bad while we were still at the platform – although the changing table was high up and without any edges, and Jessica kept wanting to roll over and reach for a bright yellow bar next to her head – but it got trickier as soon as the train started to move. In hindsight I should have ignored the fold-out table and changed her on the floor instead. After that, Jessica was bright and breezy again, standing on my lap looking out the window, reaching for the overhead lights or playing with Carl-Fredrik, stopping to listen every time there was a message on the tannoy.

In the end, Jessica didn’t have an afternoon nap. We got back home and she was happy and giggly throughout the rest of the afternoon and early evening, cruising around the furniture and playing by herself, with Carl-Fredrik and Daddy when the latter came home. Both Carl-Fredrik and I agreed that, although we hadn’t achieved much, it was good to have taken the ‘risk’ making the journey with Jessica and nice to have had the change of scenery. For Jessica herself to really enjoy London, though, it might be better to wait until she’s a bit older and take her to the Zoo or, when she’s school age, museums.

A few other notes:

On Thursday (3rd January), Jessica took let go of my hand and took four steps on her own, then stumbled on the fifth (but she fell slowly and I caught her before she reached the floor).

Jessica reaches her hand out towards things very often now and though I’m not always sure exactly what she’s looking at, I try to repeat short, simple words, so that perhaps she’ll start to copy the sounds.

The last week or so, Jessica has taken longer to settle for the night. Even though she rubs her eyes and acts tired, she seems to perk up towards the end of her evening bottle and then she cries and is restless for up to half an hour to forty minutes before she goes to sleep…! We go up to check on her every so often, and to pick her up and hold her for a little bit so she knows she’s not been abandoned, and then put her back in her cot on her back and the right way around again (sometimes she’s manage to turn herself completely around, often she’s on her front with one or both legs sticking out between the bars, fairly often all squashed up in a corner, and once she was sitting up, which was a first). Ian has suggested we add a bedtime story to the bedtime routine, after her bottle, so we’ll try that.

This morning Jessica put a potato in the washing machine and then left it there. So we definitely need to check inside it in future before we put a load of washing in…

Gabriella

As a fantastic surprise, my brother booked tickets to come over from Sweden and stay with us from New Year’s Eve (Monday) for four days! Ian picked him up from the airport while Jessica had her morning nap and although she seemed a little shy at first when she saw Uncle Carl-Fredrik, she was soon dragging him too around the house to explore one thing or another…!

As a first outing we brought our guest to the 24-hour supermarket at Gatwick, so not the most exciting of places exactly, but we needed to stock up on this and that plus get some treats in for New Year’s Eve. Jessica was sitting in the child seat on the trolley, dangling her legs and looking around the place. Towards the end of our shopping visit she got a bit restless, so I fished her out to carry her, and over my shoulder she was giggling in her usual sociable way at a boy out with his parents, though the boy sulkily was ignoring her completely. At the till she started to complain, so my brother carried her through to have a look out of the window, which distracted her nicely. (Jessica isn’t too bad with shopping trips – though I guess we make a concerted effort to limit them in time – but they do tire her out if the store’s busy.)

The afternoon was pretty quiet, with both Jessica and Carl-Fredrik napping in different rooms (my brother’s excuse was getting up for his flight at 4.30am Swedish time that morning…!), but when Jessica woke up she was really upset and wouldn’t stop crying. I got quite concerned. None of the things I usually do to distract her worked… I thought it could have been her tooth coming through, her cold (she’s still congested and has a very runny nose) or her still feeling tired, or a combination.

It wasn’t quite time for her dinner but, as there was nothing else left to try, I sat her down in her highchair anyway. She refused her savoury food but fruit went down well: a handful of blueberries, half a banana and one and a half clementine, and after that she was much more cheerful. So maybe it was just hunger… I have wondered if she’s a little bit like Ian – not coping very well with low blood sugar levels.

We put her to bed for the night a little bit early again, like we have since we first noticed signs of her cold. New Year’s Eve for the rest of us was very much a quiet affair: a nice, home cooked meal with dessert followed by nibbles and drinks in front of the telly. In anticipation of Jessica’s usual early rise I went to bed well before midnight but Ian and my brother stayed up to see 2008 in.

A few little notes about things that Jessica has been doing in the last few days:

– Pressed one of the button on the control panel with her thumb, rather than using her whole hand.

– Throwing toys into the bath tub just for the fun of it, then watching them lying there wanting me to pick them up for her so she can throw them in again.

– Throwing her bath toys OUT OF the bath tub when having a bath (this morning) just for the fun of it. (Though Mummy couldn’t reach most of them to retrieve them for her – something I tend to only do up to 3 times, then they have to stay where they are.)

– Happily bouncing up and down bending her knees when her control panel toy is playing tunes – dancing!

– Had her gums and tooth brushed four times since Boxing Day.

– Been really, really cute (according to Carl-Fredrik)!

Ian’s pointed out that I should mention that for over a month now, Jessica has been a bit extra needy of Mummy – even if she is happily playing with Daddy, if she sees me, she’ll often want to walk over to me, then wrap her arms around my knees, burrow her head between my legs and only reluctantly let go. She laughs more in general when she plays with her Daddy, so I wouldn’t have thought she should necessarily prefer me, but I guess it’s one of those developmental things, and I must admit – as I’m so keen on her, purely selfishly it’s lovely to see her affection towards me…

Gabriella