Blog catch up

Mama has been staying with us for a few days and, even though we've all been coughing and spluttering, it's been fun. I've been stressed with job hunting so I haven't been great company but I hardly think that matters when Mama has a gorgeous little baby to play with !! We took her to town for lunch and Jemima sat in a high chair again and Mama couldn't believe how well behaved she was. Jemima chattered and played and ate a serving of spinach, basil and parsnip very well...she's an old hand at this socialising malarkey dontcha know ?!

Jemima's waving has really come on, she now initiates the waving and not only does she open handed Brit-style wave but also the moving Greek wave (fingers open and shut towards palm repeatedly) so she's already bilingual !! Mama just can't believe this, Jemima just seems so advanced in her desire to socialise, it's just adorable...we all wave like mad fools when she starts.

Today Jemima read a book about farms with her grandfather, pictures to come, and she really slaps the book and peers closely at the pictures, mesmerised by two dimensional images that are somehow very different to everything else that surrounds her. We are actually using the same books my parents kept from S. Africa when I was a wee babby and it's very touching to know that once, yes yes maaaany years ago, I too was slapping the pictures and learning about my world.

Jemima is crawling a-pace which also seems reasonable advanced. I received a Bounty email for 8 month babies (which she is not yet) who might decide in the next month or two to become mobile - way too late !! Jemima has now decided that standing is far more interesting than crawling and is repeatedly bringing one foot forward underneath her and flattening in it in what I can only think is a precursor to standing up unaided. She easily climbs the two steps in the sitting room, no pause in between crawling over to them, climbing up and crawling forwards again. I really have no rest now so I must build up my stamina !! Standing up using anything as an aid is now no problem at all, my only (rather large) concern is that our floor is wooden and slippery...

Actually, it really gives one a sense of legacy and deep desire to do right by my daughter, and the hope that I will live up to my own expectations as a mother. Will I set the right examples ? Will I be able to explain the world to her truthfully, without cynicism, in a balanced way ? Well, I'm going to try my best.