Baby biker

Since you started nursery I got a baby bike seat so I can take you when I cycle to work in the morning, and pick you up in the afternoon.

And a baby helmet!

You really enjoy cycling!

Dentist o'clock

Last week you had your first dentist appointment!

We showed her your four teeth. We've started brushing your teeth, and you seem to like it, which is good.

Not so good is that you're occasionally grinding your teeth - the sound is absolutely horrible. Every time you do it we say NO and put a finger in your mouth, which makes you cry. Thankfully, you seem to be doing it less now, and the dentist said it's natural for you to experiment with your new teeth and we shouldn't worry unless it continues.

Then you tried to eat the dentist's little bendy mirror, and we went home.

Nursery

Your mum and I are now both back at work full time. You're at nursery three days a week and your granny is looking after you for two.

You're really enjoying nursery! Singing songs, making pictures, making messes, hanging out with the other kids (Zachary, Aisha, Lara, Emily, and the other ones whose names escape me) and the carers (Shaista, Cecilia, Osha, Debbie...).

You're learning fast now. Soon you'll be walking and talking (and then, I guess, you'll suddenly be sixteen and we'll wonder where all the time went).

The funny thing is that you don't seem to miss us at all while you're at nursery, until the moment we come to pick you up and you remember that we haven't been around all day - then you burst into tears that only hugs can soothe! Awww...

Fairtrade baby

You visited your mum's office at the Fairtrade Foundation.

We asked if they would give you a job, but they said to try again later.

Mobility

Over the last two weeks, you've learned to crawl and stand!



That was quick...

Welcome to the world

On Sunday 18 March 2012, we held a Welcome to the World celebration for you. It was also an early first birthday celebration. Around 60 of our dear friends and family came from all over the country (and even from abroad), and gathered in a function room of the Dogstar pub in Brixton.

Your mum baked all these herself!

It was a wonderful atmosphere, with music playing, cakes, decoration, and lots of pictures of you growing up. Everyone that came brought a book for you - a book that had been special to them in their childhood. And each book has a dedication in it so you'll know who gave you the books you'll love as you get older.

Your mum thanked everyone for coming and wished them a happy Mother's Day, pointing out that last Mother's Day she was in labour, staring at all the tourists outside St Thomas' Hospital and wondering how all those heads could have been born.

She talked about how lucky we are to have you, such a happy, healthy, friendly baby. And she talked about how much we love living in Brixton with you. I explained to everyone why we named you Penelope, although sometimes it feels like we didn't choose the name so much as discover it, and I read Blueberry Girl written by one of your mum's favourite authors Neil Gaiman.

Then your mum made a speech about women role models, which I'm going to transcribe for you here:

When we found out Penny was going to be a girl, I was surprised; I had somehow convinced myself she was a boy. It made me examine myself and the world around me. What would Penny see? How would she know that she can achieve whatever she wants in life? And would it make a difference that she is a girl?

We would be bringing up a young woman in a world where female role models seem to consist of questionable heroes. Surrounded by media images of photoshopped models, ongoing love spats between people who seem to be famous for being famous, and vacuous heiresses flaunting their ignorance. This makes me angry, especially as a generation of young women will grow up thinking that this is how to succeed, and it makes me even more determined that my children (and especially my daughter) should aspire to greater things, not just the pitiful stereotypes that bad newspapers and magazines continue to show us.

For those of us who have fulfilling careers, it is hard to see past the relative equality of the UK, but globally this isn’t the case and there’s a vast challenge to address. Gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society. Women lack access to decent work and face occupational segregation and gender wage gaps. They are too often denied access to basic education and health care. Women in all parts of the world suffer violence and discrimination. They are under-represented in the political world and separated from economic decision-making processes. Penny has more opportunities than ever in this country, though the world she has been born into still has a long way to go.

I had the good fortune to meet Michelle Bachelet through my work. She’s the former President of Chile and the head of UN Women. She made a massive impression on me as a women who has achieved so much, often in the face of great adversity. She says, "There are 19 female head of states in 192 (UN) member states. And just 15 of Fortune 500 chief executives are women. You see we have a problem. Gender equality will only be reached if we are able to empower women."

Kofi Annan pointed out "study after study has taught us that there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women". Hence the introduction of the UN Women department. Charlie & I are putting a donation towards UN Women to celebrate Penny’s place in the world as a strong, kind and dynamic woman.

There are improvements. The Nobel Peace prize was won by three women last year for, as Desmond Tutu put it, "bringing stability to a place that was going to hell." Chosen "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work" the Nobel Committee said, “We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society." They carry out valid, vital work to make the world a better place.

These developments are so critical because of the urgent need for great female role models. Education and self-determination of women in the world is critical, so they can pass on that education to the families they are raising, in terms of health, good living, nutrition, and making intelligent choices.

Penny is lucky, and can determine her own destiny surrounded by people who love her. She has wonderful female role models in her life: Penny’s great grandmother Yaya Erika - No longer with us, a strong compassionate woman whose lessons are still with us, full of love despite her experiences surviving the worst of the Holocaust. Penny’s grandmothers who she is named after, Diana and Theresa, who Charlie and I still turn to for their unconditional comfort and love. Entrepreneurial Aunties building their own businesses, Erika who has her own hypnotherapy business here in London and Justina who runs her own home staging company in Austin Texas. And of course there’s Marion and Jane, who fill the world with the beauty of their singing voices.

And, for my part, I am taking seriously my job to inspire Penny and help her find a happy and fulfilling place in the world. As well as family, we have many female friends from marathon runners to tango dancers, a lot of whom who are here today. We are proud to know them, and we hope they will be a fantastically positive influence on Penny. This seems like a good place to move on to talk about one of these particular friends of ours.

That particular friend, as you may guess, is your Fairy Godmother. I introduced her, and she read New Child by George Mackay Brown. Then your mum and everyone toasted you, and we drank and ate and chatted with everyone well into the evening.

An absolutely fantastic day.

Fairy Godmother

Norris is the best of all people!

Her real name is Megan Dowsett, and she's your Fairy Godmother.

That means she has promised to inspire you with creative wonderment and love for the world, encouraging you to find interest in art in all its many forms, and to leave the world more beautiful than you found it.

She's a great friend of ours from University. She taught me to nurture my creative side, and she's always been there for us over the years. We love her very deeply, and we know you will too.

Today is your "Welcome to the World" ceremony. I'll tell you more about it, and more about Norris, later!

Facehugger!

Your mum thinks I'm training you to have no fear.

Just because I occasionally grab your face and growl FACEHUGGER.

It makes you laugh, although it scares the willies out of your mum.

Not actually you

My baby goes crazy for high heeled shoes

Leaving footprints

We went to All Fired Up in Dulwich so you could make your grandad a special gift for his birthday.

You made one for Granny too!

Taking a stand

You're becoming much more mobile. I wouldn't say you can crawl yet, but you can certainly get yourself from A to B - by wriggle and roll.

You can sit up by yourself, and you can use furniture to stand yourself up.

Only days now before we have to clear everything away that's less than a metre from the floor...

My Yaya

You know who your Yaya is, but I had a Yaya too. Even your Yaya had a Yaya!

Here's a picture from 2001 of me and your mum with your Yaya's mum Erika, and your Yaya's Yaya Hella.

I loved my Yaya very much; she was a very kind, brave and inspirational person. She taught me many things, but there are three things that stand out:

1. Accept generosity gratefully. It can feel awkward when someone gives you a generous gift, but be careful - the standard overly polite British response of "you shouldn't have" risks devaluing the the gesture. Instead, accept gifts with a big smile and plenty of warmth.

2. Be wary of making your friends jealous. Good friends will support you through life's ups and downs, but when your life is on a high be careful not to boast too much - you might unintentionally touch a nerve and make your friend feel bad about their own life.

3. Respect everything (except authority). Respect is the single most important virtue in life - respect for every single person that you meet, speak to, read about or hear about. Most human problems in history have been caused by lack of respect for others. But always question authority - respect the person not the uniform. My Yaya survived the Nazi extermination camps, and sadly experienced occasional anti-Semitism even in her old age. She once told me a story about a washing machine salesman who heard her German-sounding accent and saw that she was buying a Braun product, and ignorantly assumed it would be safe to make a horrible comment about it being a shame that the Jews weren't finished off during World War II. Instead of marching off in a shaking rage (which is how I felt at hearing this story), or slapping him, she stayed for half an hour trying to understand why he had made the comment and educate him about what had happened in the war (about which he knew almost nothing). It takes a brave person indeed to respect even those who persecute you.

Busy doing nothing, working the whole day through

You're recovering from your illness now. I'm enjoying spending my Additional Paternity Leave with you!

Mondays we meet up with the NCT crowd, Tuesday mornings is Wriggle and Rhyme at Brixton Library, Fridays is Big Scream at the Ritzy cinema.

Today we went to have lunch with Norris. We ate pizza toast on her roof terrace. Lovely!

Tomorrow I think I'll take you on a London Walk, on Thursday I might take you into work, and next week we'll visit Yaya in Brighton.

How did I ever have time for a job?

Ill for a Penny, ill for a pound

Poor Penny! You've been really sick this week. You've barely been eating, and yet having the most copious and explosive poos at unpredictable times (including, at one point, in the bath).

It seems to be the dreaded norovirus. We're going to the doctors later to find out for sure. A lot of the babies have had it recently and it ain't pretty.

Your mum has become unwell too now - she's had to leave work early. I seem to be resisting so far... fingers crossed...

It's sad to see you in such an uncharacteristic state of low energy. You've lost lots of weight to; you're like a bag of bones to pick up. I hope you get well soon!

Additional Paternity Leave

On the very day you were born, the law in the UK changed to allow parents to share maternity leave. Your mother and I decided to take advantage of the new rules - she's now returned to work a month early and I'm taking the balance of her entitlement so I can be your full-time carer for a month.

This way, I get a break from work, I get to spend lots of time bonding with you and understanding what it really takes to look after you 24/7, and your mum gets a buffer zone between being your full-time carer and shipping you off to nursery.

Well, so far so good... You had a vomiting fit yesterday (only your second one ever), slept awfully overnight, and now I'm worried you might have a temperature. This is Day 1 of my Additional Paternity Leave. Sheesh.

Your mum, meanwhile, reports that she is enjoying work today!