Here's the picture of Jemima reading with her Granddad, very sweet...

And here she is sticking her tongue out in concentration just like her father !!

Jemima undertook a terrible and exacting exploration of my head in the bath which included poking her fingers extremely hard into my eyes and ears, pulling my hair as hard as she could - she seems to know it comes away if she does this !! - and trying to pull my eyelashes and eyebrows. She also made herself laugh as she nipped my nose again. I'm not sure what I had done to deserve this, perhaps dinner wasn't up to scratch...

Special moment

Although Jemima and I spend most of our waking time together and are completely bonded, there are moments when I can see that she is a person and not just a baby. I mean... she's everything she's ever going to be packaged up in a little bundle of baby and her potential is just unfolding. Last night in the bath she was lying on my front (she has a habit of righting herself wherever she happens to be including the bath) and had concluded her nightly investigations of the side and edge of the bath. As she looked at me from a few inches away, she came even closer and very very gently nipped my nose. She pulled back to look me in the eye for a response and I grinned at her. She came back in and nipped my nose again, very gently (and believe me, I know how hard she can bite) and pulled back for a response. This time I chuckled as I knew she was making a joke. She came back in once more to nip my nose and I laughed out loud and grinned at her.

She held very very still as she looked me in the eye and I had a profound moment of looking into the eyes of a humorous, intelligent person. It was quite amazing and I was very moved.

Mama and I took Jemima shopping today and she had her first ride ever in a trolley ! She was a little wobbly and needed propping up but looked so sweet...

A lovely first today was taking Jemima to "Rhyme Time" at our local library where parents and babies go to sit in a circle, babies on laps, singing traditional rhymes and nursery songs - adorable ! Jemima was given a rattle with a bell inside which she relentlessly rattled and she actually started bumping up and down and singing. She obviously gathered that the big people were producing sounds of some sort and she decided that she could play at that game too. One or two familiar mums but sadly most seemed openly unfriendly, perhaps I wasn't looking haggard enough but then I don't turn up anywhere not looking as good as I can. And neither does Jemima. We will be going next week anyway because the most important thing is that Jemima experiences as many different enjoyable things as possible.

Jemima loves her new piano - I rate Vtech oh yes I do !




Tonight Jemima conducted a serious and thorough investigation of the edge of the bath and the outside of the bath. She smacked, tasted, scratched and felt all possible surfaces within reach and seemed very interested in te concept of *outside* and *inside* the bath. One was cool, smooth, shiny and reasonably dry. The other was warm, splashy and full of mum. Interesting, she said.