Happy and sad

16months 27 days

It's been one of our mad but incredibly fab days today. We started out with an hours walk, get some exercise, do a job, she had a very short snooze in the littlelife. Then we drove over to Scarborough. She sung and chattered and pulled faces the whole way there.

First stop was Sofia, Paolo and Tanya. Paolo and Katie had a lovely play together for ages. When Sofia woke up I got to have my first cuddle. Katie didn't bat an eyelid when Paolo came and sat on my knee to show me something, she didn't bat an eyelid when I held Sofia. in fact, she went to see the fish in the tank instead!

We then went out for lunch with granny, grandad, my uncle, his wife and two children. It was the first time I'd met their youngest, Noah. At 6 months, he was a really content, delightful little creature, full of smiles. A shining example of babyledweaning, he sat troughing on allsorts very happily. 2year old Elliot is a little star and was cutting bits of paper into 'moo cows', apparently! Katie and Noah spent ages grinning at each other across the table. She began to get sleepy and snuggle up towards the end of dinner, and wasn't long before she was asleep when we set off, so we walked to our next destination.

Which was Max! And Lauren, Nannan etc. Katie stayed asleep when I lifted her out the pram and snuggled up to Lauren. Max made a fuss after not too long and tried to climb up, so Lauren passed her over to me. Max then followed. It was Katie he wanted! It's been incredible watching a friendship blossom the past four weeks. At first, Max was all over Katie and she didn't like it. Now, she loves him and cuddles back. And she is so relaxed with Lauren and all the family. Which made it really sad that we were there to say goodbye. They're going back to Australia on Wednesday, and are unlikely to come back for another 15-18 months, what with the arrival of the new baby. The babies gave each other so many hugs and kisses when it wastime to say goodbye. And they gave each other more through the window as we waited for our lift home.

We went to Grandad's for a play, some tea and a bath. Katie was a really good girl, and spent ages playing with her little doll there, and a box of wooden bricks. She's been a star all day, and loved seeing all the different people. I've been so proud of her.