One of the first things that needed to be done in our new abode was to fix the letters of Cubling's name onto her very own room. They are wooden letters, with colourful pictures of various animals on them. As they were assembled, I realised that the depicted animals' names actually start with the letter they're on. Wow. How long does it take a mummy to realise that, but nevermind feeling slightly stupid, I did appreciate the thought and idea indeed. Next I tested that they work in both languages, German and English, and yes, it looked like it did. One animal had me puzzled. It was the N letter, but the animal looked like a gecko, maybe a lizard? Neither started with N. I had to ask my beloved to help me out here. And thankfully he had the answer. It's a newt. I'd never heard that word before, repeated it in wonder and tried to get it's feel in my mouth. Today, to remember it properly, I looked it up in the dictionary. Relieved that I do know the German word for it, I was disappointed that it broke the lovely linguistic symmetry in starting with almost, but not quite, an N: Molch. Close, but not quite. Must look for another N.

Cubling has started babbling away. baba dada didid. Very funny and clearly the logical next step from clapping. My prediction that she'd be crawling this week has proven wrong, as she decided it's quite alright to play sat in one spot and has lost all interest in moving about.

I'm sitting between towers of boxes, and still the cupboards are full. There is no safe space for Cubling to play lest one of the towers decides to tumble on top of her and she's letting me know how she feels about that.

I've found out that it's impossible to fill even one bag or box with a baby around. Cubling will not entertain herself in cot/highchair/bouncy chair or other item she's strapped into (i.e. safe, what a sad baby world) while mummy is paying attention to blooming black bin bags or boring big boxes. As ever, at the point of maternal despair, she finally gives in to sleep, and I turn to the computer for reprieve and a well deserved break, only to be faced by the same logistical problem yet again.

What I'm looking forward to is not having to carry all 20 lbs of Cubling up 3 flights of Victorian stairs anymore, and the sheer luxury of having a pram that is set up, rather than having to go through the motions of baby in car seat, pram out of boot, set up pram, take baby out of car seat, put baby in pram and reverse before and after every flipping walk.

I should really make more productive use of the 30 minute naps she grants me. Ah well. Back to the boxes then. Oops, she's awake. Nevermind.

You may never have noticed, but it's quite difficult to unlock the house door with a 20 lbs baby who delights in clapping hands. After the first few incidental claps of last week, full blown, loud, therefore clappy claps are all en vogue at the moment. There's no stopping Cubling from clapping away furiously, big wide grin on her cheeky face, grumbling when mummy doesn't look and join in.   more »

This is a slightly odd blog. Odd because it's neither personal nor a themed blog. I know that it would be much better for me to have a blog on human rights/refugee issues and a personal one, because that's the way the blogosphere goes, but I'm too lazy for all that. Plus I don't think that would be a fair representation of who I am. So Cartside is a mixed bag of toys. Today now, my brain has gone through a whirlpool and been whisked all over the place and it's all a muddle now.   more »

For those of you not resident in the UK, there is a great service provided by the NHS. Health Visitors. The idea is that they provide a helping hand and in house health advice to families with young children. It kicks in straight after birth, or rather, for the first 10 days, mum and new baby is visited by a community midwife, and once all is reasonably fine, the Health Visitor takes over. Under normal circumstances, s/he will visit the new family for one month, and longer if needed. S/he is available for all questions regarding caring for a baby, but also has the task of spotting difficulties, such as postnatal depression, child protection issues, child health and safety, informing about vaccinations and how to start weaning etc. S/he is also responsible to pass on any concerns to relevant agencies, without being a social work representative.   more »

Cubling was a witch today for her first Halloween Party. Well, the costume didn't quite go down (or rather on) as expected. It may have said 6-9 months on the label, but jeeso it was tight. We just about managed to squeeze her in without any broken bones. At least I hope. Come on, she's only 7 months, she can't not fit into it! Well, admittedly, some of the other costumes were quite something and stole her show. As ever, she was delighted with all the baby company, not a moan, grumble or even a cry to be heard, instead she marvelled at her pals starting to crawl, having transformed into lions, cows, witches, superman, russian doll, pumpkins and frogs. Oops, no that frog was actually a soft toy, babysize, but on closer inspection, definitely without a baby in it. Like a little buddha she sat in one spot and took it all in while everything moved around her.

She loved it. And as the song goes, if you're happy clap your hands. Which is just what she did today. For the first time. Spotted by S.. I saw her second clap though. And third. Still, I'm just a tiny weeny bit miffed that she didn't show it off to me first.

Apologies for my recent obsession with teeth. It's high time to get those into something else. How about swimming for starters? Avid readers of this blog (hi N. and G.!) probably know of my general dislike of chlorined water mixed with a bit of pee and swimming pros as fast as an arrow who manage to create enough waves to send me close to drowning. And they'll know how I looooved the pool when cubling was headstanding heavy on my pubic bone. So my relationship to swimming is, well, ambivalent. I do like a splash though, preferably in a place without any swimmers who manage to keep their head under water when doing their lanes.   more »

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