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How the time flies!

Since last post we’ve had our first bout of serious poorlies. D had horrendous sickness and diarrhea for seven days straight, four of which she spent being one dry nappy away from going into hospital. Stubborn madam doesn’t like to drink water. Or take Calpol. Or blackcurrent flavour electrolyte solution. And she’ll gag and fight and scream if you give her any.

But she got better.

But she also started teething. Which is really beginning to wear. It’s a bit better now she’s realised that she can chew on things to make it better, but the constant whinging isn’t pleasant. Hey ho! As people keep telling us, it’ll only last two or three years.

D’s voracious appetite has also forced us to start weaning. So far, she’s tried rice, pear and carrot, and depending on what day of the week it is, and whether venus is in retrograde, she either loves or passionately despises them all. It’s quite fun trying to stuff it down her though. We’re going through bibs with a passion!

We spent last week variously BJCing and spending time with relatives. D spent a wonderful day with Grandma and Grandpa, reportedly being a perfect angel. Bloody little so and so. We then got to spend a fabulous day with cousin Leon at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park which involved being naked in a field. And then at the end of the week when we were all tired and irritable, Reb and Henry came to Grandma’s to visit. D got cuddled and squeezed to within an inch of her life by a somewhat overenthusiastic three year old. Henry said ‘ta’ a lot.

And that’s what’s happened recently. Phew.

We all went swimming today. And it wasn’t half as traumatic and stressful as I’d envisaged.

We didn’t bother with the ‘baby change’ cubicle. D was happy enough sitting on the bench while mummy got changed, and was then very happy to be manhandled into her own cossy. It was going fabulously well until a random woman who didn’t have her glasses on clonked D on the head with the door of her locker. Wailing commenced. But only for a minute. It was more a ‘How dare you!’ wail than an ‘Ow!’ wail. The woman made up for it by having a small child with her. D made friends and they held hands.

The water was rather exciting too. Warmer than I expected. And less crowded. D didn’t exactly know what to do with herself. There were funny loud noises and lots of splishy splashy stuff. She decided that the best course of action was to have wiiiiiiide eyes.

In amongst the taking-it-all-in stares, we got a few smiles out of her as we swooshed her through the water. We also got a few ‘plehh, ftuff’s out of her when she got funny tasting water in her mouth.

We managed a good twenty minutes in the water before she started to get a bit grumpy. We thought it best to get her out before grumping turned into wails and shivers. She was remarkably good getting changed too. I wrapped her up in a towel and put her on the floor while I got dressed. She decided that the best bit of swimming was being able to stare at people’s ankles under the cubicle door.

So our first swimming experience was completed with only one small strop, and as that wasn’t my fault it doesn’t count. I think we shall be going back very soon.

Mummy and daddy got fish and chips afterwards too. Get in.

D has enjoyed herself today because Daddy only did a couple of hours at work. He even came with us to play group and joined in the singing. This week we met a tiny little girl called Emily who has a hole in her heart. It puts D’s lop-sided head into perspective.

D proved how much she enjoyed being around other babies too. We put her down for tummy time while we were at play group and she was so busy staring at everyone and making sure they were all doing what they should be, she forgot to scream for a good ten minutes. Success! We just need to transport a room full of babies into the house whenever we want her to go down on the floor now.