'This one please'

Thanks for all the words of sympathy on yesterdays blip. Ivy is doing fine today- if still slightly more cuddly. She's flopping her arms straight and cuddling in- it's very lovely.

The Ivy friendly bookshelves (former spice racks) I put up on one side of our TV cabinet mean Ivy can pick her own reading materials- and now she's taller she can reach the ones on the top shelf (doesn't she look grown up in her jeans, they're verbaudet which are the best baby trousers as they have proper adjustable elastic in the waist)

This morning she played drums in the kitchen using a variety of spoons and sizes of pots. Hitting one thing with another is a skill Ivy is king of- she's almost as good at it as she is at 'pulling things onto the floor from wherever they've been put'.

After school we went swimming and practised dunking with Ivy. By going 1,2,3 and then dipping her slowly up to under her chin a few times she sussed what was coming so we could go '1,2,3' and then right under the water. She did very well at shutting her mouth and not crying, although her hands were frantically signing for milk as soon as she went under.

The amazing electric breastpump we hired has gone away again today- so I'm back to my smaller electric one. I can't even begin to count the hours I've spent expressing since having Ivy.