Little peach

I've been down visiting Daughter 2 and her little peach of a toddler, and took with me the pushchair foot muff that I had, for no good reason, made for her dolly's buggy. (Her dolly doesn't actually feel the cold. I just wanted to make something for her.) When flat, it looked dispiritingly like a large pair of underpants, but actually it functioned quite well. Daughter 2 had sent me an approximate pattern, with a centre hole for the strap to go through. That was probably the first sort-of buttonhole I've made for more than fifty years. My mother-in-law used to make lots of clothes for the children when they were little, so I never had to.

Little Granddaughter took to it immediately, readily mastering the Velcro fastenings, though Daughter 2 can't think where she would have come across these.

I had such a lovely time. We went for walks, to a playpark - oh, the joys of splashing with a stick in a muddy puddle - and to a play centre where Granddaughter could dress up as (among other things) a chef.

Oh, the cuddles! I got to babysit for two evenings while Daughter 2 and SIL 2 went out, and it was lovely. Little Granddaughter is quite chatty now, and easy to look after. When I have her to myself, she promotes me to Chief Slave and Receiver of Cuddles, which is SO NICE!

I think she's inherited her mother's efficiency. When I said it was bath time, she led me firmly to the bathroom, took off her clothes more or less without help, removed her nappy, marched through to the kitchen with it - completely naked but with great dignity - and put it in the bin. Then she marched back to the bathroom, climbed on her little step, sat on the loo, did the needful, climbed down again and used her little step to get into the bath, with minimal assistance.

It was so sad to leave them, but it's always nice to come home to the familiar dear skyline. (These were just random people who happened to be there when I looked out of the bus window.)

Yesterday we had a walk in the Botanics, which is jollied up for the Christmas light show.



I imagine the ducks are rather puzzled.

And the squirrels.

You don't think it's about to be Christmas, do you? What, again?