Paul Hardcastle meets 2Unlimited

A self confessed child of the 80s and early 90s, with much of the trash left lying around my CD collection to prove it, I was most pleased to hear Alice trundling around the house singing, "No, No, No, Nuh, Nuh, Nuh". She really could break into song with "No Limit" or "N-n-n-n-nineteen" any time now. If my Mum were here, she would be hearing "Nanna". Who is to say which is right?!

In that classic baby tradition of wanting to practice new skills all day and all night, she replies "No" to any question by day and last night was up for an hour between 2am and 3pm for no (geddit?!) other reason other than to say, "No". I eventually got her back to sleep (well, I didn't actually get her off - over the course of the hour, I threw all my tricks at her: changed her nappy in case it was dirty, gave her some milk in case she was hungry or thirsty, gave her a dribble of medicine in case her smokers cough had been bothering her, changed her under-sweaty-head muslin in case she was hot and added a blanket in case she was cold, but then realised that she wasn't actually crying, she was just along for the ride), tucked her up, closed our door and put an earplug in and hoped she would "No" herself to sleep. The next thing I heard was next door's baby crying at 6.30am while Alice snored on, so presumably she did just that.

The little sounds are very entertaining as is the propensity to copy words that you say. Apparently babies have to hear a word at least 300 times before they register it and another 300 to learn to say it. While finalising the Christmas shopping and specifying to the cashier which account I wanted the payment to come from, Alice took a break from her favourite word of the day to repeat a word that must have fulfilled the requisite repetitions in her hearing, "Savings". On a roll for five minutes, she then held her hand out for a rusk "Tusk", a feat of which I am slightly more proud. Neither have been repeated since nor allowed to interrupt the flow of "No".