Rachel, Owen and Kathryn

"Spider" now sounds like "cider". New words recently added to her repertoire include the seasonal snow and snowman , bear , pear , ba[ck] (as in "put it back"), dow[n] (as in "put me down"), pipi , pooh , two and hiya . If a clock is a bong, a telephone is a hiya. She knows that two follows one, but the answer to any question beginning "How many ... ?" does tend to be an enthusiastic "TWO!" "Twinkle, twinkle" now stays reliably in key every time, and she's even making up verses using her own limited vocabulary e.g. Mummy, mummy, mummy, yey! Happy New Year everybody, yey!

I finished work much earlier than everyone else so that we could actually have a family holiday before Owen was plunged into the non-stop festive concert season that is Christmas and New Year. First stop on our tour was Andrew and Sarah in Cambridge, a high-tech home equipped with two felines - so plenty of entertainment for a curious toddler. I'm fairly confident the hard-drive crash they experienced just after we arrived had nothing to do with Katy. On to my maternal uncle and aunt in East Malling, Kent, with a wonderful conglomeration of cousins of various degrees and the first opportunity for Katy to meet Ava, born just 3 days before her to my cousin Sarah (who is one of the reasons for Katy's middle name). Moments of great delight when Katy sat on Ava's 'ride-on' toy, and rather than protesting, Ava immediately proceeded to push her all around the house on it. One day off and a chance to get my hair cut, then on the road again to Shropshire to see friends with ...

I've been chided for not keeping this blog up to date, so here's a catch-up. Dec 5: Katy met Santa for the first time today! Guided by an oversized but friendly elf we cautiously made our way into the depths of an atmospherically lit grotto to introduce Katy to the big bearded chap in a red suit. Not fazed at all, she enthusiastically grasped her gift and we went on to enjoy the other entertainments on offer at a rather good Christmas fair organised by our local Anglican church, including mince pies and mulled wine for the adults and a bouncy castle for the children. Our fears that such a small person might be overwhelmed by such a large object proved unfounded and she was soon squealing with pleasure and even managing to stand up on her own. Dec 6: The Christmas party season opened with an NCT-organised 'cheeky monkeys tea-party', which featured an unfeasible number of babies in one room and lots of lovely bubbles. Dec 13: Children and adults at our Quaker meeting put ...

Small progress on attempts to pronounce 'spider' - it now sounds more like 'saddie'.

Caveman Dave lives in a cave [Katy laughs at mouse] He doesn't wash and he doesn't shave He's smelly ['pooh'] but he's very brave Wild animals don't frighten Dave [points excitedly at porcupine] At bears and tigers he will wave [waves as soon as page is turned] He tells the mammoths to behave [wags finger] He really is extremely brave. But Dave's sister Ava is braver!

Katy's not actually wearing a space helmet, it's a display of butterflies in the Discovery section of the Manchester Museum, where a fave exhibit is a tiny mouse. But she also likes the big aarh and the (real live) sss and gecko. Museums have really come on.

Three quick updates: She's well into that phase of dropping things deliberately, watching with interest for any reactions, and commenting "uh-oh!" Nappy changing is becoming very challenging as more and more items intended to divert her are themselves diverted from changing table into cot. She can say "bee" but calls a spider something like "deadie" - it's either an 'own word' or perhaps she's heard a story about a spider called Freddie? She can sing the tune of "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" all the way through without slipping out of key. Well, mostly not. And I think she's working up to "Three blind mice". When I have more time I'll tell you the story of Caveman Dave (who's very brave).