Rachel, Owen and Kathryn

Chomsky, Pinker et al posit a deep, universal grammar and a language gene. Katy has certainly inferred the rules for the regular formation of the comparative and superlative and is surprisingly resistant to the idea of exceptions to the rule. "Let's have a race and see which one goes farest" We say 'furthest' darling. "NO! FARest!" But there are also uncertainties in life. Yesterday's pondering - whilst enjoying a sunny spring evening in the garden - was "I wonder where the sky ends". Last year she asked me "Is there any way of stopping the next day from coming?" This evening we tackled the first 2 books in the Usborne reading scheme (in the bath, always a very productive place). A year ago she struggled valiantly with these but she has picked up a lot of individual words in the meantime, and when we looked at them again she was delighted to find that she could actually read them! The joy and pride on her face were wonderful ...

A 4-year-old Katy fluently demonstrates her Nexus tablet to a fascinated older generation.

Off to visit Doug.

Family life has been strange, and strained, of late: a real mixture of death and new life. The year started with the sudden death of Uncle Philip Kirkwood, closely followed by admission to hospital of Doug Little. Owen's elderly allotment neighbour died - meaning Owen could take over the adjoining plot and fulfill all his grand planting plans. Meanwhile Pat Little's vascular dementia has been putting increased strain on her family around her. Doug's health deteriorated and he was put on the 'Liverpool care pathway for the dying patient'. Frantic drive to Leicester for Owen. We all found it hard, including Katy, who suddenly became very tearful when she realised she was unlikely to see her grandpa again - and she did a horrible black scribbled picture, quite unlike her usual art work. Doug didn't want Katy traumatised by seeing him, but a retired child psychologist friend helped us persuade him otherwise, and we all went to visit him the other week - now dischar...

Life is really not boring at the moment: completely different activities each evening. Making a crown so Katy can dress up as The Queen for World Book Day (character in The Queen's Knickers ) Learning the second alto part of Poulenc's Gloria for Saturday's concert Cataloguing some books AT HOME to create an online database of useful books for our Quaker children's meeting Assisting Owen in his factory-scale potting activities for the allotment by chopping up little marker sticks. Katy is really looking forward to a sleepover at Ben's house on Saturday, when Owen and I will each be performing in different concerts - but amazingly the venues are close enough that we'll be able to meet up for tea-time sandwiches.

The latest TV fave (hopefully fad) is a slightly bizarre programme about a bunch of small animals who turn into tin cans at the first sign of danger - hence the name "Canimals". They are not a very friendly group and seem to squabble and play a lot of silly tricks on each other. Nonetheless, Katy was keen to make some canimal models, so I got creative with toilet roll inner tubes and various paints. Showing her how to paint some white patches on the brown dog, I explained "You just have to go dob, dob, dob". Quick as a flash she came back with "Or you could say dog, dog, dog!" No doubt about it, she's got the punning gene.

We managed to coax Katy away from the Snowman and Snowdog Game for long enough to enjoy a rare family expedition to Chorlton shops (where we immediately bumped into a former neighbour) and a visit to our favourite drinkery Pi - which claims to have 12 draught beers and 60+ bottled ones. We happily opted for Flensburger Pilsener, whilst Katy sipped on her apple juice and helpfully divvied out the complimentary peanuts between her parents. It didn't take long too long for her to start scratching her arms and for pink blotches to appear all over her face. Uh oh - time to switch the apple juice for Piriton: our darling daughter has the peanut allergy that now seems de rigueur for white Western kids.