John boy Walton

I've been shocked into writing this blog, a new year will do that to you, its like a sharp slap in the face as you enter January and you realise what you've let slip, and although my expanding waist line is high up there on the list of things that needs addressing (damn those after eight mints) my blog being abandoned for so long was the thing that made me feel most ashamed, i had let slip the diary of my daughters 2nd year, bizarrely it's been the last 6 months that I've really found my stride with this motherhood malarkey, it took me a year, but now that my little Mucker can walk and talk things have become a darn sight easier, don't get me wrong we still have our moments, we had 2 solid weeks of cough induced vomiting in December which was trying, and we are yet to enjoy the holy grail that is sleeping from 7am till 7pm but now that she can communicate using her daily expanding vocabulary, walk to her chosen destination (inside the house, I'm not that cruel) and generally let me know what's bothering her its all started to feel much more of a breeze, not to mention much more like living in a comedy sketch, I promise not to bore you with cute anecdotes, I save them up for her grandparents, but I have to say that this kid is funny, now, she is the only toddler I have ever lived with so I have no comparison, i can only guess that they're all funny at this age, but what shocks me is that it's taken me 30 years to learn among other things, how some people tick, what have I been doing for the past 28 and a half years if my 18 month old daughter has already learnt the art of favouritism, playing people off against one another and how to wrap both of my parents around her little finger already? This little girl is a pint size diva, a whirlwind with no inhibitions and absoloutly no fear, I said when she was born I was going to try and avoid passing my irrational fear of everything (spiders/the dark/big dogs/roller coasters) onto her, and it seems up to now we have succeeded, she has also inherited her daddy's  love of music, she doesn't like to dance alone though, it's all or nothing, when there's just a couple of us it's quite liberating, dancing around the living room shaking our polka dot maracas and  beating on the plastic drum. but guests are not exempt, no body wants to say no to a baby, especially a bossy toddler who holds your little finger chanting dance, dance, dance.....

When she was first born i kept a baby book, listing her first words and funny little ways, this is also something I've let fall by the wayside, and now it seems their are too many to keep up with but I think for her sake I should try and note down a few, my memory is more goldfish that elephant already.....the funniest ones will be the easiest to remember, such as her premature hypochondriac tendencies (she likes to show anyone who will look her 1cm x 1cm patch of baby eczema on her arm) her declaration that everyone, including herself is funny, she initially pronounced it with an A but luckily that corrected its self quite quickly, a frequent one is her self professed healing powers (any body who has a cut or a graze gets kissed and declared "all better") and her finely tuned school yard insults (everybody no matter how fragrant, stinks or is pooey accompanied by the obligatory waft of the hand, something we started to encourage her cooperation during nappy changing but now regret) something's she does will only apply seasonally, such as gaining an affection for the egg shaped baby Jesus in our wooden nativity, so much so she left teeth marks, but my current favourite is the roll call, each time she learns a new name, a family member, friend or even a neighbour, they get added to the roll, and each night our house turns into an episode of the waltons as she wishes out loud night night to as many of them as her tired little brain will allow.....funny but not so much when she does it at 3am!!!