Rachel, Owen and Kathryn

When children first start using language they ignore articles because they're not as significant or meaningful as the name-label words they are so keen to acquire. (It would seem that for Russian children this phase lasts indefinitely ;-) Katy has now started using the definite article to make little sentences like "Sit on the cushion!" and "It hurts the teeth" (whilst tucking into a bowl of strawberries at yesterday's barbecue).

When I was pregnant I had already resigned myself to not having weekend lie-ins ever again. Well, not till the offspring reached teenage years anyhow. But Katy is beginning to connect certain days of the week with particular happenings and - bless her - has now got the concept of weekend . And weekends are definitely A Good Thing. 'Friday' is her favourite day of the week - but in the same way that 'two' is her favourite number. Normally an early riser (6:20 as a rule) this morning she slept in until 9:45. This never happens!

The recent bank holiday weekend provided the opportunity for lots of new experiences, visiting grandparents, meeting extended family, and more linguistic progress: Katy's first 4-word sentence. Katy was happily playing with her Grandma's wooden toys, sorting little rabbit shapes into a pot, when she said "Baby 'nother rabbit in". OK, so it's not the conventional word order, but that's the first time she's put two qualifiers in front of a noun. She's evidently enjoying the power of speech: you can say things and people then do them. Yesterday on the doorstep she told a friendly neighbour to "Go back in!" (there was a definite twinkle in her eye). This morning I was enjoying Rachmaninov's 2nd symphony on the car radio, until Katy said "No music!" But mummy likes this one . "Turn it off!" I turned it off. No point talking about democracy or proportional representation to this little dictator. Here we are messing about

Baby monitors are wonderful things. Not only do they score quite high on the gadget rating (small, digital, multifunctional) but they let you listen in on your child's private world. The other night after I put her down I could hear her chatting quietly to her cot toys - amazing how quickly they pick up on socio-linguistic conventions like whispering because everyone's asleep . Then out of the blue came "Mama mia!" It's a line from her current favourite bed-time story.