….others may wish to avert their eyes as this is an almost unbearably smug entry.

We get a great kick out of chatting to our little girl now that she talks.  It worries me mildly that she only talks in French other than to say “open this” and “yes please” but it is fun to hear my child do a French r.

The other day we were out on the tram and I explained to her how the tram ran on tracks. She wanted to walk on the tracks but I said no, they were for the tram so she called out to the man crossing the road “Non, monsieur, c’est pour le tram!”

She likes to give instructions and inform. For example, this morning, I was lying prone in bed and she said “Debout Maman”.  I protested feebly. “Non, je suis pas d’accord” said she.  I protested feebly some more. “Non Maman, il faut t’habiller!”. This from a girl whom we have to chase round the house to dress.  At the weekend we visited a farm and having spoken to her father about the eating habits of chickens she turned to me and told me “Maman, les poules ne mangent pas de l’herbe, ils mangent du maïs”. When crossing the road
she turns to me and says “Attention Maman, il y a des voitures!”

A big favourite at the moment is doing things herself. She has just learnt to take on and off her trousers and no one could be more pleased “Regarde, Maman!”. We just can’t wait for her to start trying it out in public. However, there are some things she can’t do herself and this leads to deep unhappiness and frustration “Can Mama help you?” “Non, non, c’est moi!”�

She has taken to my make-up bag in a big way and goes through the contents regularly. The other day doggy had a makeover involving application of mascara and perfume, behind his ears and on his paws, and a certain amount
of fur combing.  When the task was complete the Princess picked him up and took him away “where are you going, sweetheart?”
“Doggy look in the mirror”.

She has a song for every occasion. They seem to learn hundreds in the creche and she picks up the ones we teach her really fast. Frankly, you haven’t lived until you’ve heard your 2 year old lisp “Day-o, day-o, daylight come and me wan go home”. Obviously, she is a musical genius.
Her recent birthday celebrations have made a deep and lasting impression on her. In quiet moments we catch her crooning “happy birthday” to herself. Yesterday, we met some friends of Mr. Waffle’s who very kindly brought her a present. When we were leaving she said “bye, bye” and strolled away. I said “wait there’s a present for you” and with indecent haste she came skidding back to the munificent donors “birthday present for me!”

She is learning to run and she loves it. She insists that we run with her “Cours, Papa, cours!”. Her loving father jogs along slowly bent double to get down to her level and I notice that now when she runs, she tends to bend over in imitation.

She is fascinated by video material taken on the camera (which, alas, sustained some damage at the weekend – I’d really rather not talk about our poor record on digital cameras). She peers at herself and repeats whatever she has said on video giggling uproariously the while. Then she pushes the replay button. This can go on for hours.

When I read books to her, she knows some of the words so if I say “And that Zelf up on the shelf”� she goes on “I have talked to him myself”. I read to her sitting on the beanbag in one corner of the room and she trots off round the corner to the bookshelf to pick out her book of choice, but just as she gets around the corner, she turns around and says to
me anxiously “ça va, Maman?” Poor mite, her Mama has been out of action a lot recently. As I lay moaning weakly on my sick bed (hey, morning sickness, rash, migraine – is it any wonder I’ve taken to my bed a lot recently?), I would hear her saying to her father outside the bedroom door “Maman est malade, Maman se repose”.

This is enough smugness for today.