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 ...

We've been reading lots of "Mr Men" books lately - despite my disapproval of this really dreadfully sexist 1970s series (it does at least provide plenty of opportunity for sensible discussion about people's different behaviours and characteristics, e.g. who could really be Mr Perfect?). As I give Katy a last cuddle in bed she declares "You are Mrs Lovely".

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!

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.

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...

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 .

It's Iggle-Piggle! The only TV programme Katy even pretends to watch is In the Night Garden , where the tiniest happenings contribute to what passes for a storyline, everyone has their own little song (incongruously and not always very accurately performed by narrator Derek Jacobi), and every episode concludes with the same 'going to sleep' routine. A very successful concept. Three significant tiny happenings this week. A 6th tooth has appeared, without any hassle. For the first time Katy put 'her' CDs back into the box she'd tipped them them out of (quote from the nursery staff: "She's a right one for taking things out of boxes"). As a librarian, I find this reassuring. Perhaps most exciting: she has been confidently pushing her trolley up and down the hallway with all the control of a rally car driver. Surely independent steps can only be days away?

This comes in the category of Things That Should Not Happen. The other morning Owen couldn't take Katy to nursery because he had to leave at the crack of dawn to play a concert with the CBSO at Henley, of all venues (it's a tough life being a muso). Not a problem logistically as I had some Time Off In Lieu owing from last Saturday, so could do the nursery run without rushing. But would our lively little monkey be anxious to start her day at 4am, 5am or just 6am? She slept until 7:30 ! And I had a cup of tea in bed !! After I dropped her at nursery I went into town and did towny things, like buying expensive face cream, drinking cappuccino and eating a burger, before going to work in the afternoon. Katy is sleeping very well currently, and what did I notice this morning but a 5th tooth peeping through.

We've all been wilting somewhat in the current heatwave, but the determinedly cheerful Kathryn has been managing very well, despite the alarming appearance of a heat rash over most of her body. She drinks lots of water and I can keep her happy on a sweaty bus journey home by feeding her grapes, or - how cheeky is this - breast-feeding her on the top deck! To my amazement she's actually been sleeping much better of late, which I put down to a) let-up in the latent teeth activity, b) slight reduction in snot quantities [a continuous series of colds seems to be a fact of nursery life], c) feeling much more settled at nursery, or d) all of the above. After some weeks of appallingly disturbed nights I was beginning to wonder if she'd ever sleep through again, but she's evidently not lost the knack completely. Sleep deprivation has such a powerful effect that when you actually get some sleep you're joyfully grateful to be woken only at 5:45, especially if it's by a l...

I have to blog this just for the record: this morning Katy had a one-hour nap in her cot . I resisted the urge to put yet another load of washing on and was able to drink coffee and talk to Owen - unheard of ;-)

Yes, I managed to get to my concert venue together with a)correct instrument, b)music, and c)music stand, played my bit and scuttled back home to find the baby-sitters reading magazines and drinking tea while poorly baby slept quietly. She woke several times after they'd left but she's definitely perkier now, has stopped throwing up and doing the other thing, and has started eating again. Phew.

Well, a baby of course. Unlike her mum who is full of cold and can't sleep at all. If mums get exemption from prescription charges for a year can't we get exemption from illnesses in the first place?