Every Little Helps

I haven't been to the supermarket much since G was born. This is mostly because we live close to local shops including a butcher and a greengrocer, so I tend to get most of our food there. Anything else we usually order online and get delivered. But when I realised this morning that we didn't have any milk or spread left, I decided to take a detour via the nearest Tesco on the way home from this morning's parent and baby group.

And so, G got to have a go in the trolley. I hadn't realised quite how exciting this would be for her. She laughed and squealed with delight from the moment I strapped her in, and carried on all the way around the shop. She was enjoying herself so much I ended up buying loads of stuff that I hadn't intended to, including a packet of custard creams. It only cost 9p though.

At the baby group one of the mums was proudly showing off her five week old boy. Looking down at the little bundle, then across at G, I struggled to remember exactly what G was like when she was that size. In fact, she's always been such a big baby, I'm not convinced she was ever that small.

Projectile Vomit

G has mastered the ability to projectile vomit in even the most unlikely of situations. Just now she was lying on her back on my lap with her head over the end of my knees, looking at things upside down, as she often does. Suddenly there was a wretch, and then a splashing sound as she managed to send a stream of sick over her nose, forehead and the carpet.

I mopped her up and sat her on the sofa before taking this picture. As you can see, she wasn't bothered at all. In fact, she was really rather pleased with herself.

She's In Fashion

Here's G showing off her new sunhat. Mrs J made it for her this weekend after some surprisingly warm and sunny weather led us to realise that we didn't have any hats for her that weren't wintry and woolly. G seems delighted with it.

I was away for most of the weekend, first at a conference in Leeds, then making my long-awaited cricket comeback for my new local team, Delph and Dobcross (second eleven, obviously). Mrs J took the opportunity to have some of her friends over and hang out in the sunshine. The photo below demonstrates that nobody looks cooler on a hot day than G.

Three Meals A Day

Here's G looking thoughtful as she munches her way through her lunch today. She's now onto three proper meals a day, which usually consists of porridge for breakfast, a pot of some kind of baby food for lunch, and some of whatever we're having for tea. Her intake of milk is supposed to go down accordingly, but she's still greedily polishing off her bottles, which suggests she's not going to grow up to be a fussy eater.

She's been a bit miserable at times over the last few days, as her next teeth poke their way through. G has had her two bottom front teeth for a while, and now her two upper fangs are slowly coming into view. This might make her look like a baby vampire, but I know for certain she's definitely not because garlic breadsticks are one of her favourite snacks.

G was on angelic form during her latest election campaign stop this morning, at the office of the local Labour candidate, who's also a pretty well-known government minister. The minister's wife looked after G while I did the interview, and I just about had to prise her back afterwards. G also tried to eat her red rosette, although I think that says less about her support for Labour's policies and more about the fact that just about any object within reach currently goes into her mouth.

On The Campaign Trail

It's the general election campaign, and G must be the most politically active baby in the country. I've begun interviewing various candidates for one of my other websites, Saddleworth News. Most of these meetings are taking place during the day, which means I have to take G along with me. This certainly makes things a bit different from other political interviews. It also means I can let G help me decide which way I should vote. Basically, if any of the candidates makes her cry, they've lost my support.

The picture is of G holding a Conservative balloon (other political parties are available), which was given to her on Saturday as I spoke to the Tory candidate for Colne Valley. She certainly seemed more interested than she did on Thursday when she fell fast asleep during my chat with the Green candidate. Clearly if you want to attract the baby vote, balloons work better than dull conversations about rural transport policy.

Chocolate And Steam

We went for a day out in Ramsbottom yesterday. It's a village a short distance north of Manchester, and not too far from where we live in Saddleworth. Once upon a time Ramsbottom was probably best known as the birthplace of Robert Peel, but although there's a big monument to him on a nearby hill, I don't imagine many people who visit nowadays do so for that reason. Instead, they go to visit The Chocolate Cafe and to have a go on the East Lancashire Railway, which is exactly what we did.

G is a bit too young to have any chocolate, and she was obviously feeling jealous as we ate our way through our chocolate-themed afternoon tea, because she managed to knock back a whole pot of baby food. This set her up nicely for the rest of the afternoon, and she thoroughly enjoyed her trip on the steam train to Heywood and back.

As you can see from the picture, she was wearing a strawberry bib. I think I may have put it on her because I was feeling guilty for exposing her to so much chocolate. If she grows up preferring fruit salad to brownies, it'll be conclusive proof that dressing children up as healthy food helps them have a proper diet. I'll have to suggest it to Jamie Oliver.