Astrid's current stage

She weighs a bit more than 18lb / a bit less than 9 kg. She has seven teeth. Her hair is growing longer and the colour is more visible; it's slightly reddish, not wholly ginger but what friends call "strawberry blonde."

She is completely immersed in the Use Lion With Egg stage of development. It's ADORABLE.

She can't quite stand unsupported but she keeps trying. She can manage a second or two.

She loves solid food.

She loves me. She loves Rob. She loves Linnea. She loves Emer. She loves Lucy. She loves drinks. She loves clapping hands. She loves noses. She loves.

Sort of catching up: Linnea's birthday, social stuff while away, etc

We spent Easter and Linnea's birthday in Ireland. First we visited radegund and family, which was awesome, and then we visited my mother, who is awesome, and then we spent one more night at Radz's before getting the ferry home.

High points included the Child Friendly Taxi service, which was available at long and short notice on several occasions, sometimes to take BOTH families AT ONCE. I also went shopping for new pyjamas for Rob and discovered that men mainly don't wear pyjamas any more, they wear Lounge Wear, but when they do wear pyjamas they can opt for the Easy Care Non-Iron Pyjama. I found this slightly alarming.

Linnea's birthday was good; we made a cake in spite of my mother's gas oven being dangerously broken (she has promised not to use it again) and the supermarket promising a ready-made one with made-to-order icing and then recanting. We used Betty Crocker brownie mix and ready-made icing, and Dr Oetker's Writing Icing for the coloured bits, and jelly snakes. There's a photo if you want to see.

While we were visiting my mother the children made friends with some of the neighbours, in particular a few black children from three doors down. Linnea might well write to the eldest child, in fact. But once my children started playing with the black children, some of the white children stopped calling to the door. We're not sure whether that's coincidence or not.

I got Linnea's birthday poem written at the last minute and left it on her bedroom floor; for the first time she was able to read it all herself, and then she read it aloud to Emer, with great rhythm and expression. She's good at reading aloud unless she's rushing.

Sort of catching up: phone things

While we were away I got an Irish SIM card and used data on my phone a lot more than I usually would (I did a lot of the kitchen research from my phone, for example). I returned more determined than ever to leave Vodafone behind me and transfer my loyalty to someone else; I've gone for T-Mobile because they're not Vodafone and there's T-Mobile reception inside my house. And I've phoned up and got a PAC and Rob picked up a PAYG SIM and I'm almost ready to make the change.

I just need to fight my Google Nexus S open and swap the SIMs so I can make the change.

I got a protective cover for my phone, too, and a screen protector. I still need a laptop keyboard cover to replace the one Astrid shredded with her teeth.