Catching up

I don't think I've blogged much this month, and have just retrieved a few photos from the last couple of weeks from my camera, so here they are.

Last week Elspeth was off helping out at the NCT's nearly new sale all day, so Marisca had me all to herself, until the afternoon when she had to share me with the rugby. You can see that she's getting ready for the game by working on her try scoring technique - no swallow dives here, but it's a nice no-nonsense touchdown. Good to see her supporting the local team, but a shame that she's playing with an Irish ball.



We then enjoyed some photographs in the sunshine, both inside:



and out:



Now that the weather is warmer I'm trying to get Marisca outside exploring as much as possible. She's outside quite a lot being transported or playing on the swings, but hasn't had much time down on the ground looking around. We obviously want her to enjoy the outdoors, and she wasn't sure about being out on the patio so more experience is required. She did like the grass down by the lake on Sunday though, but I don't have any photos of that.

A while ago, when Marisca was very little, we visited a Next sale and picked up some nice clothes for when she's older. I especially liked the stripey top which she's just grown into - mostly because it's a pretty good match for one Elspeth has:



Lastly - yesterday's new trick. She's been quite good at crawling up and down the small step into our kitchen, and has really grown in her ability to crawl under, over, and round things in the past few weeks. She demonstrated her climbing ability yesterday by assailing the stairs - not just one step but two. We were even more impressed that she managed to negotiate herself safely down again. We definitely need to keep the gate closed now, and lock it too!

Coffee Part 2

Hooray! I finally got hold of one of Mummy's mugs. I've been watching, so know what to do with it. It seems to be empty though...

On the train

My daughter is a rebel:

I think she will get away with rebelling as long as she looks this cute while she does so:

The photos were taken on a day trip to London. Marisca loved the train: lots to see, both inside and out. I don't think she's ever seen the world go past so quickly before!

Swings and things

Marisca does like the swings. Here she is playing with her friend Leo in the local park. Check out the new spring coat as well!

Then Marisca and Leo shared a springy-seat-made-for-two. Leo sat back and let Marisca do the springing:

This was followed by tea and cake for the Mums. Strangely, there aren't any photos of that part of the day...

Shrove Tuesday

Daddy came home from work a bit early today so that we could make pancakes together. This is the first time I have helped in the kitchen!

To make pancakes you need eggs:

And flour:

And a grown up who cooks them for you:

So that you can eat them with lots of lemon and a sprinkling of sugar - yum!

Daddy and I enjoyed cooking together!

Ten months

Here are Orla, Esta and Marisca being ladies who lunch (with their parents) yesterday - Orla (on the left) was born a few hours before Marisca so they actually met each other for the first time in hospital! That seems a very long time ago now.

So what's new this month? Well, Marisca now pulls herself up on everything all the time - she is just starting to 'cruise' along the furniture as well. Thankfully, she's very good at lowering herself back to the floor again so she doesn't get stuck very often. This month she has really started to take an interest in books, particularly ones with different textures she can feel. She now has her own library card so can borrow 'that's not my bear' and other such literary classics!

Favourite games at the moment include peekabo - either me or Tim bobbing up and down behind the sofa/bath, or Marisca rocking back and forward behind the door. She is also very keen on coming to 'find' us when we walk out of the room. Oh, and taking stacking cups out of each other and throwing them over her shoulder is also fun. Maybe next month she'll learn how to put them inside each other and we can start work on learning to tidy up...

Daddy-daughter day

As Elspeth already hinted, Marisca and I spent a whole day together last week while Elspeth was away. I had been looking forward to that for a while but was a little apprehensive; it's just been such a long time that Elspeth has always been around or at least close at hand, and frankly she knows Marisca and how to look after her better than I do, becuase she does it all day every day. She also has the benefit of breastfeeding to soothe an unhappy girl. I wasn't concerned about anything except for the feeding, and this is where it's a lot easier than it would have been before. When Risky was little she wouldn't really take milk in a bottle from me, although grandma and grandpa had more success, it has to be said. But now she's eating much more grownup food that she can get through most of the day without milk, and she's happier to take a bit of a bottle too.

So, it was good to show Elspeth that she has more freedom to be away from Marisca than she might have thought, and good to show me the same thing, and good to feel that I can look after her almost as well as her mum.

But most of all, it was Fun! Mostly we played around the house, having fun with towers and with taking photos. We went swimming in the afternoon which was nice but tiring, and had a little walk around the neighbourhood. Marisca also slept a good bit which let me try and get the house in decent order for when Elspeth got home from work. I'll need to do the same thing a lot more regularly and consistently to understand that it's not always that much fun, but it was a good start.

Marisca and Daddy playing with the camera:

Marisca really wanting to come and play with Daddy and the camera:

Marisca's first photograph! (Daddy helped with the aiming)

Daddy's favourite photo of the day:

And Marisca all swam out: