Daily chitter chatter

Daring, tempting and luring the curse of print, I'm going to come out and say it. Alice has this sleeping thing down pat. She's now down to two day sleeps and, very conveniently, just puts her head onto one side to stare at her Monkey toy from Auntie Becca and drops off within minutes. She's able to be awake for 2.5 - 3 hours now between sleeps (according to the baby recommendation gurus) and not quite all of that time is spent eating or trying to get her to sleep anymore. Much of it is spent sitting on the floor waving her arms about to be picked up, but no matter. The rest of the day is spent squealing, chatting, laughing, shouting, cooing and singing.

Posing with new friend Monkey. Elmo, long since forgotten, looks on

Monkey sleeps on Alice's head after what looks like a minor scuffle

We are, however, getting woken up earlier and earlier as the seasons change. Alice's room is completely blacked out at night - we would have been model wartime citizens - but it's the blooming birds. When we first moved here, I thought they sounded very exotic, but now they just wake us all up. (I still love the sound of the crickets in the evening, but then they don't interfere with my lifestyle, so everything's conditional).

Our weeks have changed shape since we got back. We have one whole mothers group which has gone back to work (bad form on their part, I say) and a few activities which don't start up for a couple of weeks yet. However, our days still follow a remarkably similar pattern (all accompanied by a running commentary from Alice) and it's this:

6.10am (average up time at the mo): Big milk feed (Have decided I'm going to feed her until Christmas day, when she will be 11 months. After that, she's on her own, buster. Also her father can get up with her in the mornings sometimes. Hear that, darling?

7am: Breakfast (5 tbsps porridge mixed with formula and fruit)

9am: Sleep

9.45am: I wake her up. Drinks some water. Plays with playgym/jumperoo/we go out and she sings along to the radio in the car (There is one radio station which often plays "Don't leave me this way" and she gives Jimmy Somerville a run for his money in the aaaaaaa-aaaaaah) .

11.15am: Lunch - a serving of an Annabel Karmel thing - we are currently alternating the cauliflower/broccoli in cheese sauce and the one-pot chicken. Both are big hits. Also 1 baby yoghurt. Nothing baby about the size of these bad boys and Alice wolfs it down. She sucks/gums some cooked slices of apple, drinks tonnes of water and doesn't tend to make too much mess. Likes to hold cup herself which is very impressive and she will eat more if she has a swig between each mouthful for second half of main course.

12.30pm: Sleep. All going to plan, usually for 2-2.5 hours and, in the absence of Loose Women, I settle in to watch the second half of The View. I have decided from today to keep this time for myself rather than cooking up Karmels or ironing etc. I am justifying this by calling it a lunchbreak. I'd get one if I were working and my work day certainly wasn't 13 hours long with possible night calls. (Well, it was once upon a time, but when I go to see my boss later this week, it's not the terms and conditions I'll be seeking.)

2.30pm/3pm: 120 ml formula. Without a reminder from my chest area that a feed is due, I keep forgetting to make up this bottle and it's usually a bit later than this. She doesn't seem to notice or complain - this said, the other day at the playground, she did start to forage in my top in a most undignified manner - but wolfs it down when it comes and I then feel a little bad.

Afternoon: Plays/chats/we walk etc. Eats rusks/apple/plays with water cup some more. Lots of chat. When cuddled, will give big hug back and if I say "aah", she will repeat. Will also try to kiss me which is thoughtful but damp.

4.30pm-4.45pm: Tea. Chews on 2-3 rice cakes with pureed avo on them. Eats rest of avo. 3 cubes veggies although gets bored very quickly with tastes at this meal, so have been experimenting with serving 3 cubes of different veggies separately. More apple slices get sucked. Have tried her with other veggies as finger food, but is not yet interested. Big mess is usually made.

5.45-6pm: Another big milk feed

6.30pm: Bath - now sitting on her own in the bath so Mummy sits next to bath with glass of wine. We play with her bath toys, which are different farmyard animals, all of whom she calls "De"

7.00pm: 240ml formula feed

7.15pm Bed, usually passing out before I even have time to cross the room to put her down

She used to have a story before all her sleeps, but now that she is more alert, she gets too excited by books. Either revelling in their familiarity because we didn't have too many with us on our big trip and so we read them many times ("This is a Baby"; "We're going on a Bear Hunt"; "Miffy at the Gallery") or loving the novelty of a new one and squealing with excitement or trying to copy the sounds (Eg this morning's rendition of "Good night moon"- Me: 'Goodnight stars', Alice: 'Tars') It's very sweet, but stories now have to be part of playtime rather than bedtime because they are just not a calming influence.

I think that some of the talking may be a coincidence, but she's certainly got one lot of noises down pat. Quite often, if we are in a queue or have a terminally slow walker in front of us, she will give an exaggeratedly loud sigh. It would get me punched, but she just gains glances of admiration, giggles and right of passage. On waking, she has finally learned which side her rice cake is buttered on and yells, "Ma-ma".