Morning smiles

Katie is currently dancing round the lounge to "Polly Put the Kettle On". She's just been dancing and singing to the "Wheels on the Bus". Her favourite verse is the baby. She sings "baby on bus fast asleep... all day long". She's been making Tinky Winky and Lala dance too.

Another early morning blip from us - busy day ahead. First thing we've got friends arriving, bringing a sofa for us. This in itself sounds simple. Except we live in a maisonette so it involves a flight of stairs and a u-turn into the lounge once up the stairs!

Granny and Grandad are then arriving. Mummy has a wedding today (and it's chucking it down, not good!) so Katie is going to have a day of adventures with them - and no doubt some exciting treats too. They're going to a farm that Katie hasn't been to before, so I suspect she'll have a great time. I think they're taking her out for tea before coming home to put her to bed. I hope she's good for them!

Have a lovely day, babygirl. I'll miss you and love you lots xxx

Came home to a diary of the day from Grandad

Katie 16/7/11 - A v lovely & special afternoon & evening
In car, straight to sleep. Lunch in car, ate some of everything. She did the softplay, small ball pool, soft slide, rockers, large ball pool, football court all at least 3 times. Enjoyed interacting with a teletubbies poster and sweet machines. Confident with all sizes of children and adults. Drank her juice, ate orange then walked confidently to the counter and joined the queue. Eyed up several party groups.

Gdad snippet 1: 4 practically identical pink balls, every time it was thrown, she squeezed them all and knew which was hers. Went off to play elsewhere and said "take ball too".
Gdad snippet 2: she used 2 balls as exercise balls, "swimming" on top of them on her tummy.

Brief protest in the supermarket, soon distracted by Gdad's glasses. Songs, play, breadbun and grapes were needed to keep her awake on way home, which she was pleased to see. Cuddled Monkey, Doodles and Baby, before playing a very clear (in her head) game with them.

Kept check on Granny as she made tea "granny cook tea?" as she went in to make sure several times. Ate bit of all her tea, loved root veg mash, unimpressed by mince.

Come bedtime, she was very keen and excited to take Gdad and lead him through everything she does in her routine "shower, Granny, upstairs" she told her before she went up. Lots of bubbles, toys, chatter and water squirting. Helped Gdad put her in sleepsuit. Halfway through last story, she pointed to her bed, got on it. Too tired to arrange her toys as she likes, but confused why they werent in the right place, once everyone was where they should be, she had a cuddle, bedtime prayers. Then went straight to sleep by 7.

19:42 - sleeping deeply & peacefully, a monkey under each arm.

This is a huge thing for Katie. It's the first time bedtime with someone that wasnt Mummy has been a totally happy, relaxed occasion. I'd explained how the day would go, and she seemed to get it as soon as my parents arrived. Dad said she had seemed excited about showing him how to do bedtime the way she likes it, and to share it with him. This is a real credit to the love, trust and patient relationship they have built up over the last 21 months. He's always respected that Katie is an individual, from day 1, and is proud of who she is. In turn, she adores and trusts him, and it's paying dividends by the bucket load. I was so proud of her