Forgot to mention in the last entry that Jessica has been to her first Bonfire Party, which she seemed to quite enjoy. It was at our friends Richard, Cara and Daisy here in Horley on Saturday 3 November. We made it as easy for ourselves as we could, going there with the car, so that we could settle Jessica for the night in the car seat (the party started at 6pm and Jessica’s bedtime is usually 6.45/7pm, so it meant she could take part in some of it) and then later hopefully sneak her out into the car without disturbing her sleep to much when it was time to go home. Jessica enjoyed seeing Daisy again and was quite ‘chatty’ for a while, then mesmerised by the big bonfire at the back of our hosts’ garden. Fireworks were going off all around but the bangs didn’t seem to startle either Jessica or Daisy, which was a relief. By all account, Jessica did notice the fireworks too – she turned towards the sound and then seemed to follow the cascades of light and colour on the night sky with her eyes. Later she seemed to settle well in the new surroundings – didn’t make much of a fuss at all and went to sleep quite quietly. We didn’t stay late but said our goodbyes at 9pm. Jessica stirred when she was put in the car and sat awake and excited (nowadays she always gets excited when she’s put in a car seat, regardless of whether she was cranky before) all the way home. It took a little while for her to get to sleep in her cot but she wasn’t crying, only chatting away to herself – possibly about the strange events of the evening…
On Friday the 9th, Jessica and I met up with a larger group of mums and babies from the post-natal group we’ve been seeing, for lunch at one of the mum’s house. It as great to see how much more the little ones interacted with each other: looking and making noises at each other, grabbing for each other and each other’s toys. Jessica took the opportunity to show off, too – there was a little trolley standing near her, similar to the one she’s been walking with at home. Jessica was standing up on the floor holding on to my hands but simply grabbed hold of the handle on the trolley and started walking with it across the room as if it was the most obvious thing in the world to do (without any prompting or encouragement from me). At which point she received lots of praise and admiration from the other mums – she may be the last to get teeth, but she is the first one getting this far learning to walk. Some of the other babies crawl very well indeed, but I guess Jessica’s just skipped that bit, and saved herself some time…
Just to overcompensate for the lack of pictures recently, here are a few from our little family walk in Outwood last Sunday (11th November):
(And, yes, she did try to eat the leaves – almost first thing when on the ground she bent down to grab a big wad of them and shove them in her mouth…!)
Jessica and I will be flying to Sweden tomorrow, to stay with my sister for a week over Jessica’s cousin Isac’s birthday – very exciting! Will report back with photos (though probably a few days after we are back at the soonest).
Gabriella