So, the child is 13 months

[ailbhe]

After she spooned her porridge into her mouth by herself, this morning, Linnea and I went to the bathroom to wash. I held the stairgates open, she walked ahead of me. She climbed onto her step in front of the sink; I loaded her toothbrush with paste and turned on the tap. She ran the tap over the toothbrush and brushed her teeth.

The whole thing was so incredibly grown-up I almost burst. She now strongly resists assistance with her toothbrushing, morning and night. We tend to try to get toothpaste on all the teeth and then leave her to it. She'd brush for hours if she was allowed.

We've just finished playing Clotheslines. This is where I string a string between two chairs and we hang small clean things on it with the sprung clothespegs. She finds clothespegs fascinating - they are so small and strong and complicated. Perhaps she senses a kindred spirit.

My new nursing dress didn't arrive in today's post. We got a leaflet saying it was at the sorting office because a tax payment of some amount is needed. So Rob went to the sorting office before starting work, and it wasn't there yet. That's unfair, if you ask me. I need to check it fits and looks ok for this wedding, because if it doesn't, I have to come up with Plan B, which involves *shudder* shopping. I don't really have anything that's fit to wear to my best friend's semi-formal daytime wedding.