Normal service is resumed

Today I had to turn the burglar alarm on, for the first time in AGES! Stuart is now back at work, children are back at school (after already picking up those bugs that abound at this time of year) and it was just Sophie and me.

My Parents-in-law are doing very well at home, taking things steady, and helping each other out. So, fingers crossed, things are looking up.

Sophie is now so confident on her feet. Any opportunity and she is walking somewhere! After those first few steps she took, she didn't really go on from that for quite a while. It was last Wednesday when she suddenly decided to walk about 13 steps across the kitchen, and now she's off. Even trying to run! I love this age where you can see so many thought processes slotting things in place. She knows that when Daddy gets up early in the morning she has to wave bye to him (sometimes before he has even gone!), she knows keys go in the door, shoes go on feet, socks go on heads (well when you are playing they do!)

I look at her now, and all signs of my baby are gone, she is a wonderful, inquisitive toddler. It is an end of an era, one which I feel so priveleged to have witnessed through the development of all four of the children. But it is time to move on. I am getting rid of the baby clothes (apart from all plain things that have tie-dye potential), the car seat is going, as is the cot (she never sleeps in it anyway!), and various baby toys too. We are going to decorate a room for her, so she has her own play space, and you never know, one day she might even sleep in there!