Rachel, Owen and Kathryn

Babies are good at classifying things, so I've read, and can identify and relate different instances of things in the same class (picture of polar bear, cuddly toy polar bear, stuffed polar bear in Manchester Museum, etc.). Katy has evidently clocked the time-piece class of objects very well. The chiming clock in our dining room is a "bah" (=bong), but so is the ordinary clock in the front room, as is the clock-radio in our bedroom and the small digital alarm clock in her room. The other morning as we were driving to nursery she suddenly exclaimed "Bah!" in an excited manner, and as I looked round for an explanation I spotted a huge clock on the wall of a hospital. Her vocabulary is expanding, although it does seem to be concentrated around variants of Bah! Here's the current list of 'words' at (nearly) 14 months: baa baa = sheep bah = bong, clock bu bu = butterfly bubba = baby bye bye cat cheese daddy du = duck [f]ish Katy ma = more mmm = cow mummy ...

Katy's just had her MMR jab + one other booster and suffered no side-effects so far - just waiting for the possible delayed effects at 6 days and 6 weeks! She's stayed cheeful despite being jabbed in the legs, having a cold, and growing her first molar . My translation skills at her communication attempts have improved, and I've now worked out that when she says "da" (usually accompanied by a pointing finger) it means "look at that interesting thing there", whereas when she says "ma" (plus outstretched fingers) it means she wants "more" of something.

According to the nursery staff Katy can say her own name, but she never says it in our hearing. She can also say "ish" (for fish) "door" (for dog), as well as "daddy" (now taken over from dada) and "mummy" - but in a manc accent, oh howl!

Kate shows off her muscles helping out in the garden. Indoors she continues to enjoy climbing into boxes and covered spaces, and loves making a home out of her igloo-style tent: she even takes my hand to drag me inside too. A teacher friend tells me this is an 'enveloping schema' - in which case the cats are very postally inclined too. Her favourite word at the moment is Ma! (Taken over from Da!) Yesterday she apparently said two words when she pointed at a picture and asked Who da?

A typical conversation with Katy at 1 year (+ 3 weeks) might go something like this: Katy, what does a cow say? Mmmm! What does a dog say? Ufff! What does the clock say? BAH! Oh, are you off then Katy? Bye! The clock question perhaps needs some explanation. We have a chiming clock on the wall in the kitchen, and since we try to eat a family meal at 5:45 she always notices the 6 o'clock bongs - and even anticipates them. As the clock makes its little whirring noise a minute before striking, Katy already chimes in with an enthusiastic BAH! In the picture: a chocolate icecream and a ride on the light railway in Markeaton Park (with Derby grandparents) turned out to be a real hit.

Model wears DiziDays by Clarkes (size 4G) shot on location in a Gatley garden. The nursery staff told us Katy has been taking lots more steps by herself, and appropriately enough she chose a foot-measuring, shoe-buying visit to John Lewis to demonstrate her ability to walk all over the shop. On the way home I found my phone seems to have developed an echo: I finished a call in the traditional manner and heard another little voice say 'bye', in exactly the same intonation.