Wow so that was the worst flight I've ever had
Baby was so unsettled. It was bad enough she looked like she'd come off worst in a playground free-for-all: her conjunctivitis made one eye swell half-shut and the other squint a bit; plus her cold meant that her nose was constantly streaming and, to top it off, I think she had a sore throat and was teething. If I've caught what she had I can imagine why she was so grizzly. I now have a sore throat and one of those annoying headaches that comes on when you move your head too quickly.

And she threw up on me. Twice. I had thought to pack one spare t-shirt in my hand luggage, but not two. I will certainly be doing so on the way back. And I definitely will not give her any of blinking MAS's 'orange juice'. She only had a few sips but I'm convinced that it was the cause of the enormous burp she gave just before barfing all down the back of my sweaters and hair. Poor, poor baby.

Plus, of course, she refused to sit on Alex at all so most of the time she slept partly or wholly on my lap. I was counting down the hours from 6 hours in, going argh fly faster, you idiot pilot, faster! To be fair we got in slightly early, which was probably quite good going, if the bumpiness of the ride was any indication of the wind resistance. Still feel quite stiff though and I think I've done something to a hip ligament, ouch!

Also we were very lucky because the kind flight check-in person block-booked three seats for us, even though Boo is not supposed to have a seat of her own and, a little into the flight, the old Chinese guy sitting on our right went and found somewhere else to sit. So most of the time Boo got to stretch out on two seats, even though she never looked like she was very comfortable.

We took her straight to the doctor when we got here because I was a bit worried about her eyes and the fact that the antibiotic drops we'd been giving her didn't seem to be working. Got a whole range of things in addition now, darn it. Antibiotics for her overall health, something to relieve her allergy symptoms, cream to put in her eyes and nose drops.

Anyway we've been sleeping on and off all day and I feel a lot better now, thank goodness, though I have yet to shake off this cold I got from her and I think I've also picked up the conjunctivitis. Boo has been sleeping on and off since she barfed on me again last night (throwing up all the steamed egg I was so happy to see her eat, damn, damn) after an ill-judged attempt to force her to take the antibiotics, but at least each time she's woken she's asked for water, which is good. Fingers crossed she wakes up in the morning her usual cheery self, smacking me on the face and going 'Mama?'

16 mths+

A good 10 days
It's been quite a nice week. Boo's been in fine form mood-wise, a little grizzly and drooly one or two days but otherwise actually quite charming.

Weekend before this last one we discovered Queen's Park, which is perfect for tots. We went largely because we'd read it had a little farm section.

And the farm is just right: large trough by the entrance with soap, in case the little ones touch the animals; a few large chickens, all with spectacular hairdos, many rabbits and guinea pigs, two handsome goats, and a number of ducks and geese. I was expecting more animals but, really, you can get bored of looking at too many animals, so we spent a nice 15-20 minutes walking round, with Izzy waving bye-bye (or my-my, she pronounces is) at the various animals, then left.

Several miscreant parents allowed their children to feed the animals despite the numerous signs saying 'DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS'. Where they were giving bread to the chickens and doves, I could turn a blind eye. Where these giggling, twittering 12-year-olds were trying to give the goats tissue paper, however, I wanted to kick them in the pants. Fortunately the goats are used to this sort of nonsense and rightly ignored the twits.

So anyway then we took a long stroll around the park, admiring the flat expanse of well-kept grass. Tufts and bumps become important when your daughter might trip over them and cover herself in mud as a result. It took us about half an hour to get to the playground on the other side, about 400m away, because Boo insisted on walking herself.

This means she'll walk in the right direction for about ten steps, get distracted by her shadow, trip, get up, walk in the opposite direction, decide to look at the grass, stop to point to the nearest dog etc etc etc. All very lovely though when it's a beautiful sunny day and the park is filled with other parents and their kids, rather than impatient, huffing Londoners who want to get somewhere in a hurry.

The play area in Queen's Park is also rather lovely. There's an enormous section for toddlers, with a table for changing nappies, and it's gated, so no large children bouncing the tots off the toys. The area is covered in clean sand, rather than the usual rubberised surface which, while very good for bumps, is quite slippery when wet. Baby had a good time on a slide, shooting entirely off the end one time, she was going so fast, and then spent a good half hour ferrying sand from inside the pit to the outside. She also enjoyed throwing things into the bins, which were shaped like large bears with open mouths.

Alex says her face going down the slide was quite a picture, as she went from glee - sitting at the top of the slide - to panic - when she realised how fast she was going - to surprise - when she landed with a bump on the sand - and then glee again. There's an area for bigger children as well. There was also a beautiful paddling pool in play area and I'm already dreaming of taking weekdays off in summer to go there with her.

Afterwards we went to the cafe there. Good menu but boy did it take forever for the food to arrive. We ordered a mushroom sauce pasta and toastie and it took 20 minutes! And we ate at about 1430 because we'd had a large breakfast.

Boo says 'Daddy'!
Finally! Last Wednesday morning, 17 January 2007, Boo, in a mellow, maleable mood, said 'Daddy'. Not mama, or yaya or yeah, but 'Daddy'. Or rather 'Dchaddy'. Which is close enough. She said it twice, we both heard it, but she has refused to say it again since. She really is a terrible tease where her father is concerned.

Boo thumps a celebrity
Baby has had her first celebrity encounter... we think. We ate at Giraffe this Saturday morning and, after she was done stuffing potato wedges into her mouth and scoffing my berry yoghurt smoothie, baby did her tour of the restaurant.

She's quite queenly at the moment; loves taking a stroll down the street and waving to people. I took her for a walk in the closest thing we have to a mall where I work on Thursday night and she had a jolly time waving to every single shop assistant she saw through the shop fronts and to all the diners in the restaurants we passed. It took about 20 minutes just to walk 100m to the one we ate dinner in. She's quite persistant too. If someone doesn't see her, she'll wave until they do and, if they're rude enough to ignore her as they walk past, she turns round and calls out 'bye!' as they go.

Anyway I digress. After a round of the tables, she walked up to a booth and the family sitting there and slapped both her hands onto the lap of the man there, like she owned it. Alex watched in amusement as he kindly smiled down at her and said 'Oh, hello.' She looked up into his beardy face, whimpered and began backing away. Alex came back to the table with her and said: 'On the way out, check out the bald guy sitting there on the right - I think it's Bill Bailey. Boo Boo just thumped him on the thigh.'

Oh no
Took babe to the doctor's this morning for conjunctivitis in her right eye, though it looked better this morning than yesterday. Unfortunately the nursery called to say she now has a temperature of 37.8 degrees! Poor thing. Never lasts, does it? Little consolation that two of my three colleagues also have sick kids at the moment! This darned freaky weather (3 degrees in London this morning).

What a shit-smeared weekend
People who are not parents may want to look away now, as those unaccustomed to this much toilet information may find their stomachs turned.

Twice this week babe has pooed while we were out at lunch. What distinguished this weekend's poos from other, ordinary weekend incidents while out has been that each time they were in places that had no changing facility, and that the poos have been massive, diaper-overflowing wet ones. Thankfully though, each restaurant we were in happened to have these trough-like industrial sinks, which meant that once we realised wet wipes would not cut it, we just placed her in the sink and gave her an impromptu bath from the waist down.

We are still arguing over who dealt with the poo explosions better. I got some on my nose, but Alex got some on Isabel's nose. Which is the more laughable sin? Debate.

Boo eats chilli
After the great wash, we returned to our table so I could eat my char kuey teow (we were in Nonya for any other London-based parents' info - they have high chairs but NO CHILD CHANGING FACILITIES). By this time Alex had eaten all his chicken rice, the pig, which Boo was supposed to share. So she ate some of my char kuey teow instead. Which was fine, except after a few mouthfuls it became obvious there was actually a decent level of chilli in it. By which I mean a level discernible to chilli-hardened me, though the heat level was hardly beyond a tickle.

Not to poor Boo though. She ate a mouthful. Then another and another. And then she suddenly let out a wail. And another. But then she ate some more. Wail. Eat. Wail. It was hard not to laugh. Especially since she would keep going even though we told her not to.

After about the fourth time I began to get the distinct impression the Aussie and American diners on either side of us were beginning to regard us with more than a little hostility. So I convinced Alex to drop his chilli training for Boo and just blinking order her some chicken rice. And when she still wanted to eat the char kuey teow alongside the rice, I wanted to point it out to them and go 'See? It's not my fault she's her father's daughter! Don't report us to social services!'

15 mths+

Can I brag?
I don't even know if it's something to brag about but what the hey. Yesterday Boo was playing with the drawer where we keep the tools. She noticed the screwdrivers and started playing with them. And then she saw the big screwdriver I'd used maybe a month ago to replace the batteries in one of her toys. She picked it up, marched up to the same toy and began trying to unscrew the compartment for the batteries. I'm so impressed she remembers exactly what to do with it!

Must stop swearing in front of her now. Right now.

Oh one more thing: I noticed today that she's learned to hold her crayon properly, as if she's about to write, instead of gripping it like a sausage she's about to scoff. Hurray Boo! Have taken a pic of it with the new mobile phone.

Alex and I have upgraded our crappy phones - what an annoyance. For years I've never had to worry about anyone wanting to steal my phone because its scratched, canary-yellow plastic shell would surely only appeal to maybe a three-year-old with bad taste. Now I have to worry in case some ASBO child casts its eyes on its 2MP camera.

But it was a sweet deal. My monthly tariff for the first year is working out at about £7.50 a month, for which I get er... I haven't worked it out entirely. I only know it included enough texts and minutes for talking each month. And I've spent £3 of my free £5 for music downloads already (Razorlight's Golden Touch, Jose Gonzalez's Heartbeats and the Black Eyed Peas' My Hump if you were wondering).

On the plus side I may be able to blog straight from the phone in the future. Once I work out how to do it. It's taken all of an hour and a half to work out how to transfer music files to the phone. The £35 1GB memory stick looks very alluring now as the 64MB one that came with the phone is only managing to hold 16 songs.

Anyway back to Boo.

We are loving this hat


Even if poor Boo isn't so fond of it because it's been such a warm winter it's not often cold enough for her to be completely comfy in it. She started being more amenable about wearing it once the nursery girls told her she was cute in it though.

Ah, and remember my knitting?




Hat on the left was my first, rather disasterous freestlye attempt at a hat. I call it the cowpat hat owing to the unfortunate resemblance. Boo understandably refuses to wear it. However, I'm pleased to report I have now graduated to hats acceptable for wearing in public (see right). Will post a better picture of it once I've taken one. It's actually got two pompoms, not one, I would like to point out.

Alex is quaking over the fact that I am now working on one for him in the same green that is on the trim of Boo's hat. He's always wanted something to match her so I proposed the hat but, somehow, he's a bit wary now. Maybe because I've been saying I'll put pompoms in pink on his. Hahaha.

On the subject of head adornment


Isn't it amazing how one little hair clip can make Boo look angelic, even when she's got her defiant face on? (I don't think we've thanked Baby Raphael for this birthday present, so Raphael's mummy, if you're reading thank you! We love the clips!)

I've also been sticking stickers on Boo's hair in an effort to provide alternative entertainment for her when I'm cooking. I started out with all the flowers out of this big book of assorted stickers we have. But when I let Boo choose something for herself, she demonstrated exactly how passe I have become. Tres avant-garde, Ms Stylo-mylo.

We've had a couple of days out
Despite the crappy illnesses... oh I haven't mentioned. Boo's impeccable timing again meant that we jetissoned a plan to hop over to Paris during the Christmas week. She caught hand, foot and mouth disease and then passed it to Alex. Nothing to do with the animals' foot and mouth disease but it's pretty nasty.

Fever, aches and pains and then blisters all over the inside of the mouth and on her hands and feet. We thought she was teething again or had an ulcer and didn't realise till the blisters appeared on her limbs, by which time she'd more or less recovered.

Alex is amazed at her stoicism because he says he felt rotten as heck when he got it. His hands were so tender he almost yelped when he unthinkingly picked up a pen to write. He's amazed babe didn't complain more than she did. I did do a lot of kissing of her toes - still do now, she loves it - during the week, but he's right, she was amazingly good considering.

We took Boo to the Science Museum, which has a great section in the basement for under-sixes, which purports to teach them the principles of science. It's great, the water section is a big tub separated into different sections and allows you to build dams, divert water flows, pump it up, turn on taps, float boats and squirt all sorts of toys. All in a bright silver basin, and they even provide aprons so the kids don't get soaked. And boy do they love it.

We let her play for about 20 minutes and then had to drag her away from it. Who cares what she learns, we're definitely going back there!

We went to Hyde Park one day
The trip started out so promisingly. First dim sum with E&V at Royal China, which put Boo in a very good mood. Then a stroll to the duck pond, feeding a squirrel and bird along the way. The squirrel wanted nothing to do with our stale rice cake though. Which might be just as well because babe was obviously wary and a little afraid of it. Strange considering she wanted to toddle up to every single dog we passed along the way, even an enormous sheep dog which was half again as tall as she is.

Unfortunately, however, once we reached the duck pond, the feeding of the squirrel and some bright bird had obviously emboldened her and she kept wanting to feed the swans and geese out of her hands. I tried demonstrating the throwing of rice cake, took pieces from her hands to throw out etc but no, she wanted to feed the swans. And I was petrified they'd break her fingers or something if they pecked them.

Thus ensued a little struggle where she refused to back away from the swans, then refused to sit on my lap. Then decided sitting on all the poo available on the ground was the way forward. Gaaah. I don't know which words were screaming more loudly in my head, meningitis or bird flu. She screamed all the way to the bathroom, which was closed for cleaning, so babe was stripped almost bare on the park bench instead.






She's such a cheeky monkey



Definitely doing the testing of boundaries thing already. Nursery girls told me today she was trying out her favourite trick of the moment: pulling tissues from their box, one by one, then tossing the entire pile into the bin. Amy said they watched her do it, warned her not to, and then she did the inching to the box, while looking very guiltily at them the whole time.

She does that a lot at home now too. For some reason she loves transferring food from one plate to another - or to the table top, or to a cup of water, or just to the floor. In very casual flips of the spoon over her shoulder. Now, when I use my downward, very stern voice to say 'No, Izzy, put it back in your plate," you see her pausing. She looks into the distance, obviously pretending she didn't hear, while she works out whether or not she'll get away with it. Sometimes she listens if she sees me looking at her. But if we take our eyes away for a second, she just carries on. Monkey.

See the pram pictures? We came home to an overheated house one day, she refused to wear her change of clothes and then took great delight in defying mama by standing on the pram even when told not to. If you click on the pictures and see the bigger versions, you'll see the glee in her eyes.

But how to resist her? When she's good, she is so angelic. She'll run up to me and throw herself into my arms, or walk over to Alex and kiss him for no reason. She still likes teasing him as well though. In the pic below on the left, she's pretending she has no idea what grape Alex is asking for. And on the right? I see that face EVERY DAY when I am cooking dinner. She always wants to help and if Alex is around we let her do things like put things in the pan, or set up a the big salad bowl on her stool, give her a big spoon and something to stir in it - like beans or our packet of star anise - and that occupies her for a bit. Sometimes.



We're also trying to potty train the goon

But she doesn't get it!!! She does ask to sit on it, when she follows us to the loo sometimes, but then she'll sit on it for a few minutes, smiling in bemusement as either one or both of us hiss 'shh shh, come on Boo, shh shh', then demand to be taken off again.

When I've tried to demonstrate what to do, she has that same bemused smile. Usually, we try to get her to pee just before she takes her bath. Not infrequently she prefers to do it just after her legs enter the warm bath water.

I've just had a brainwave. I need to submerge her feet in warm water while she's on the seat! Will let you know if it works.

Other random pix of baby I thought were cute. Too tired now to explain further.