Rachel, Owen and Kathryn

Doing some housekeeping on the laptop, and came across this info from December 2009. Interesting that the basic outlines of her daily routine are still quite similar at nearly 6 years old ... except that we go upstairs at 7pm but she's often not settled and asleep until closer to 9pm! About Katy’s routines This is an outline of Katy’s typical timetable. It’s not set in stone but many babies need predictable elements in their day, and these are the timings she’s used to. Mornings: she tends to wake about 6 but I can keep her quiet for a while. She usually has breakfast at   7.15 but may sleep longer on holiday. Lunch: about 12 noon Napping: she doesn’t, unless taken for a quiet walk in the buggy or drive in the car. It’s important we engineer at least one nap. Tea:   usually 5:45 to 6pm She will eat most food but her portion needs to be allowed to cool a little. For an early family meal she can sit up at table with her booster seat, but newspaper on the floor ...

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).

Some days Katy gets a lot of both parents, on others it's only one or the other. Sunday was a Mummy Day, as Owen was with the CBSO all day. We had a very happy, girly time at the art gallery, and I felt quite relaxed at home as I went to put the kettle on while she constructed towers with her stacking cups. It soon went suspiciously quiet, and when I returned I was shocked at the appearance of my darling daughter, who seemed to have suddenly become a teenage goth wearing black lipstick! The coal scuttle has since been removed. Monday is a Daddy Day, when Katy doesn't go to nursery. When I got home from work she was very eager to communicate all they'd been up to: "Par! [panting noises] Hop-hop! Pa! Goat!" From this monosyllablic stream I inferred they had been to the park, where they saw at least one dog, and visited the Pets Corner, where they saw rabbits, parrots and the goat.

One of the great advantages life in Manchester has over London is the speed at which you can reach the countryside. Having promised Katy a trip to see some pigs on Saturday, we discovered our local 'city farm' is closed for the foreseeable. Time for Plan B. In about 45 minutes drive (ideal nap time) we found ourselves in deepest Cheshire at the Cotebrook Shire Horse Centre , where they have not only shire horses (and foals), but pigs, rabbits (galore), otters, a barn owl, a buzzard and a fox - trying to sleep in his box despite gawping visitors who are invited to switch a light on to view the poor creature! There was also a flock of black sheep, which pleased Katy no end. I think most parents frequently ask their children "What noise does a cat/dog/duck-billed platypus make?" but Katy turned the tables on me yesterday. She was repeatedly making a sound I couldn't identify with any particular animal, and when I said "That's a funny noise, who makes that n...

Nearly 18 months and very keen to assert her independence, no is Katy’s current favourite word. She alternately goes on food strike or eats 3 yoghurts at a time, and has started playing the ‘let’s embarrass mum by going completely stiff and refusing to get in the buggy’ game. I thought that wasn’t supposed to start until the ‘terrible twos’! Mind you, these parenting manuals are a load of contradictory rubbish: they tell you toddlers have no memory and will have to be told over and over again not to do certain things. Katy approaches the forbidden cat litter trays saying ‘no, no’ to herself. She’s also caused some confusion at nursery by repeating a different kind of ‘no, no’ as she quotes the little pig refusing entry to the big bad wolf. My excitement at discovering she can now pay attention to a longer story has since waned as the tale of the Three Little Pigs has become a compulsory bedtime (and morning, and afternoon) story. At least she gets two different versions of it, one fro...

Eat a full Sunday roast dinner with friends, in two separate houses! A much-anticipated full-on family lunch get-together with the couple we get on best with since NCT antenatal classes turned into a collect-it-yourself meals-on-wheels service. This distributed dining arrangement was caused by little Euan (2 weeks younger than Kate) succumbing to a nasty virus we didn't want him to share with us. Very disappointing, as our mutual baby-sitting arrangement means the two families rarely get together as a whole - we seem to meet in sub-sets. But the beef didn't disappoint - mmm!

And she is a one, too ... she's just started saying "ta" if we give her something desirable (like a large blackberry) in a disarmingly charming way. To say I don't know where the year has gone would be a cliche, but I did find myself yesterday reliving some still very vivid memories of giving birth . The feeling of a small, warm, fuzzy haired thing being put on my tummy is one which will never fade. We both had to go to work on her actual birthday, but we had lots of fun the day before. Her cousins joined us for a family day out to what was billed as a 'teddy bears' picnic' organised by the East Lancashire Railway , which turned out to be a cross between a traditional village fete and Phoenix Nights . The promised steam train broke down, but at least we didn't get rained on. We visited the Leicester grandparents on Sunday and will see the Derby grandparents next Sunday. My first day in my new role went well, and I'm wondering if a pattern is emergi...

It's not in any of the weaning books bv that didn't stop Katy trying some veggie samosa - and she didn't spit it out either! Maybe she's getting more adventurous now a 3rd tooth has come through, with another on the way. Gross motor skills (and musical appreciation?) are also developing: we happened upon a string quartet rehearsing for the Chorlton arts festival, and she was so keen to get close she climbed up a step to attack the cello!

Katy has graduated to a proper startrek style chair and is expanding her culinary repertoire while avoiding dairy. She loves tofu! Sleep is again difficult as more gnashers are emerging - I'm feeling like a wrung out dishcloth again. The dreaded return to work is now looming, but a neighbour has just assured me it's much easier than looking after a baby. Meantime Owen is practising looking after her once a week, and I'm practising NOT doing that - a very strange feeling!

And so did Kathryn Sarah, when her aunt Sarah came to visit at Easter. Much fun was had at a picnic locally and good meals at home. Katy has now tried red lentils (loved them), salmon (ok), scrambled eggs (indifferent) and sugar snap peas (came apart in her hand so deemed pointless). She's taking much less breast milk, which I find surpisingly sad although I know it's the whole point of the exercise (sniff).

And be be be be! Kate has suddenly started to say repeated syllables, and seems exceptionally pleased about it. I think it's called 'reduplication', any language acquisition bods out there? She's trying more foods, like pasta, pears, avocado, and can feed herself bananas and rice cakes. We've held off the easily likeable apple juice in favour of water, which is going down well now (tho some does go down her bib admittedly). With all this noshing going on I've belatedly started brushing her t-t-two t-t-teeth.

So said George Bush, according to our local organic greengrocer's, where we buy the stuff - Katy loves it! We discovered that it wasn't the cleverest idea to give it to her sitting on a leather sofa in a Greenwich restaurant, however. She utterly loved seeing new places and people on our recent visit to friends in London, but found it all too exciting to be conducive to sleep. So we're all a bit exhausted and will need something like spinach to keep us going tomorrow.