Development City!

I apologise for not updating my BLOG for a few weeks.

No real excuses.

Oh, apart from...

- Drew has had a cough for 4 weeks now which has been keeping her awake, thus keeping US awake. Doc said its either a virus (surprise surprise!) or Asthma (great!).

- No new teeth have come through, although we've all been experiencing the symptoms for about 4 weeks. Probably all linked to the cough.

Okay, so Drew's not crawling yet. I'm okay about it. Most of Drew's friends of the same age are either crawling or walking with the aid of a trusty sofa or coffee table, but as everyone keeps telling me 'she'll do it in her own time'. All good advice, but I wish she would flippen' hurry up.

In the meantime, I have been teaching her the times tables in case she is academically gifted and doesn't care for boring physical challenges. The training is going well and usually ends up with half a banana smeared over her face and 2 apples very battered and bruised left on the kitchen floor. However, I'm confident that my 'banana and apples' times table approach will work and will eventually sink in. On the other hand, I could be setting her up for trouble when she starts school when she doesn't ask for a calculator but a basket of fruit.

Talking of Drew's development, in the last couple of days, she has achieved quite a lot.. Unfortunately, Daddy has not seen any of this as he's been hard at work doing worky things and we've been away with the doting grandparents in sunny Teignmouth. Yes. I did say 'sunny'.

So, what? - I hear you ask - has Drew been doing if not crawling???

Check out Drew's Achievement List below:-

- Drew said 'Mamma' yesterday morning just before I gave her a bottle of milk. Yep...she knows which side her bread is buttered on. Who's your Daddy now??!!!

- The day before, albeit in front of my partially sighted 'Barney' Nanna (so-called because she had a dog called Barney before I got our little Barney and OUR Barney is named after her dog. Not relevant, but interesting nevertheless), Drew crawled...wait for it...backwards! Not forwards I grant you that, but there are many benefits to crawling backwards:-

a) still keep eye contact with your peers

b) if baby happens to be sick, it will crawl backwards OUT of the way rather than straight into it

c) learn the idea of reverse parking from a young age

d) could possibly be an expert manoeuvring with a caravan when old enough to drive

e) still working on e)

- Clapping. I'm pretty proud of this one. Drew claps and doesn't miss each time AND makes a good CLAP sound. It's not a little clap...its a full on high 5 with herself! She seems to enjoy doing this one, so this may prevent any hope of crawling forward as clapping and crawling forward at the same time could lead to possible injury.

- Today, Drew said 'Nanna'! Pretty good going seeing as we're at my parents' place! See...it doesn't matter if Drew's not crawling (forwards). She's doing so many other interesting things! Or that's what I keep telling myself anyway.

Also, one other thing...bad Daddy hasn't pulled his finger out yet and installed a baby safety fireguard in our front room, so it's a good job Drew can't crawl forward...although it's only a matter of days before she works out how to manoeuvre backwards into her parallel parking spot right next to the fire!

Ouch!!