New home

You've adjusted very well to moving into our lovely new cottage. In fact, over the last week whenever we've said we're going home, you had to check we meant the "new home?" - and you were very excited when we said yes!

You love having your own grown-up bedroom, and you're coping well with the mess of unpacked boxes and general chaos...

Poor Minnie is finding it a little harder, probably because she's suffering from a cold and teething at the same time. (Her first tooth came through this week!)

Andrew and Alex have dropped by, Yaya has visited, and today Erika, Dan, Lucas and Gilly came round. Also, Granny has come this evening for a few days. Everyone who's seen the house is very impressed! It's such a wonderful home.

No pictures of the new house yet, but here's the very last picture of the old one:

Possessed

Twice now you've had a bizarre unprovoked screaming fit on a scale we've never seen before.

You've been having more tantrums recently, as you approach the Terrible Twos, but these outbursts were on a different level. In the one I witnessed, you were on the floor shrieking at the top of your voice, lashing out, banging your head on the floor - utterly unconsolable for about ten minutes.

It was extremely distressing to see you like that and be helpless to do anything about it.

In retrospect, we wondered if you were suffering from teething pain. After so many months without any teething, is it possible that your new reaction to the pain could be so extreme?

I hope it doesn't happen again. We love you so much and we don't want to see you unhappy!



(This video makes light of it, but it was really distressing...)

Still the same old baby

You're now much fussier about food. You'll still eat most things, but getting you to try that first spoonful to decide whether you like it or not can be really difficult when you're playing up. (Even if the food is something we know you love!) Partly it's because you want to feed yourself and make a big mess rather than be spoon fed.

You still love nursery, and hanging out with your granny when she comes to look after you on Thursdays and Fridays.

You still laugh when I Facehugger you, however shocking I try to make it.

You've now got ten or eleven teeth including a few molars.

You've been sleeping through the night almost without exception since about March (when you were recovering from San Francisco jet lag).

You still suck the two middle fingers of your right hand like a rock chick. Your left hand also often holds your left ear while you're doing it.

You're still very talkative. Now you often understand what we're saying to you, and you try to reply. Your vocabulary includes "Dis" (What is this?); "Dada" (Any parent or relative); "Gog" (Any animal); and recently you've been working on "No."

You're still the most delightful possible child.

All through the night

Thank you very much Penny!

Thank you for sleeping through the night for almost a whole month.

You've been waking up at 7am, having a hour's nap or two during the day, and going to sleep by 9pm.

Last night was the first time in weeks that you woke up in the middle of the night... maybe tooth number seven is on its way?

Statistics

Number of days old you are: 385

Your weight: 9.30 kilograms

Your height: 68 centimetres (very short for your age!)

Your head circumference: 44 centimetres

Number of teeth: 6

Number of Penny blog posts before going from once every two days to once a week: 153

Kiwi

You're supposed to peel it!

Ah well, never mind. I guess you're exercising your new (fifth) tooth.

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.

Texas longtooth

While we were in Texas, your third tooth started poking through. It's your Texas longtooth.

We're back home now, trying to adjust to the shift in time zones, which you're not too happy about at the moment...

Twoth

Your second tooth has come through!

We don't have a picture of it, so instead here's a picture of you and your mum dancing to Death Cab for Cutie.

Your First Tooth!

Snowdrops blooming

You've been a bit restless this week, and on Wednesday morning we found out why - your first tooth is poking through!

You've been feeling it a lot with your tongue and your lip. At the moment it looks like a translucent sliver edging out of a sore bit in the middle of your lower gum. Your mum wants to take a picture but it's hard to see and you're quite reluctant to show it off.

Marion was telling us about how the snowdrops in her garden have started to come out, and the tip of the bud is extra hard so that it can push through a layer of frost. Just like your teeth pushing through your gums.

Secret Garden Party

We took you to a festival!

It was cold sleeping in a tent.

And the music was loud.

But, apart from a few teething problems, you had lots of fun!