Rachel, Owen and Kathryn

I'm enjoying reading a book called "The Philosophical Baby", and have just reached a chapter on developmental psychology which explores our understanding of consciousness. All fascinating stuff, and much more stimulating than the manual of parenting that's also a permanent resident on my bedside table. We've also just received a report on Katy's development from the nursery, based on a week of 'observations'. As if we didn't know it already, we read that "Katy has an understanding and awareness of herself as being separate from others and she knows her own likes and dislikes." Funny that this coincides with a sudden enthusiasm for saying her own name - when previously she would only whisper it. If I ask her "Are you a cheeky monkey?" she denies this with an assertive "Baby!" Also from the report: "Katy has a huge interest in the way musical instruments sound". Well, what a surprise!

We had a white Christmas, and now we're having a white January too. So white in Manchester that we're actually snowed in: University & library closed, hooray! Nursery closed, roads impassable for cars and buggies, stuck with 'baby that will not nap' indoors: not hooray . But we had fun playing with all the new Christmas presents and went for a crunchy walk in the snow with babe in backpack, saying hello to all the snowmen who had sprung up, meeting an entire snow family at the end of our road (mum, dad, 2 kids, a snow dog and a snow cat!) and admiring the snow-brick extension some would-be eskimos were building on their house. As well as getting lots of practice for her first two-syllable word ('snowman') Katy is also enthusiastically rehearsing facial features, and can say eye , ear , nose , hair , mouth , teeth (of which she has 12, by the way, and more coming). Heart-warmingly (especially in this weather) she's very into the family huuuug .