Heidi has mastered the crawling now although prefers to keep a leg out at right angles sometimes. Her efforts to get upright are not dwindling, and most of her time in her little play pen, is holding onto the bars and struggling upwards. Occasionally her legs give way and she falls back in a controlled manner. Sometimes a loud follows, and all hell breaks loose.

She can now quite happily move through the house, pulling at cables and pans which should be out of her reach by now. This sudden burst of independence has taught us that everything should soon be up high. We’ll need a bolt for the office door as its on a roller catch and she already knows it just needs a little push, and then there is a world of mischief beyond.

Heidi has been doing her social rounds again, and last Sunday was Grandad Wills’ birthday so we had fish and chips for lunch. All the chip shops were closed in Paignton on a Sunday so I had to whizz over to Torquay where I picked some excellent grub. Heidi was most impressed with what she saw, and managed to behave very well sitting in her perch.

Today we went to Paignton Zoo. The weather was really good and it was nice and sunny. She seemed to really enjoy watching things and is even more alert now. The animals fascinate her like the little monkeys who entertained her, as I suppose she sees herself somewhere in there. They peered at her though.

The snow never really arrived in Torbay last week, with the exception of a short spell of snow which resulted in Jolly Babies being cancelled.

Chagford however, was hit quite badly by snow, and so Rachel and Heidi were snowed in at Grandmas for a few days. This led to me having a few days of “quiet time”……

Heidi seems almost there with the crawling bit, but has in the last few weeks failed to get the last bit right. We are not worried by this as she’ll become even more mobile, but she does get a bit frustrated. Her knees are now up under her and she arches her back and head very high, and looked almost if she was ready to climb out of her cot. In the next day or two, I’ll be lowering the base a bit to stop any escaping incidents.

She seems happy to try and stand in some cases and holding her up allows her to position her legs and take her weight for a while before getting distracted. Maybe she’ll bypass crawling and go crashing around holding on to things.

Either way, she is operating at lightning speed, and it only takes a second before she whips out at something and then holds in her pincer-like grasp.

On the 9 January we took her for eight month check up, with Sue over in Brixham. Normally there is a crowd of people at the clinic but today it was just us. I was off work that day with a grumbling fluey type bug which did not materialise to anything thankfully, due to much rest, fluids and properly times breakfast and lunch.

Heidi weighs 19lb 11 1/2 oz or 8.94kg which is a good weight and just over the 75th centile. She is 71 centimetres long so that’s… 2’ 4” by my reckoning? A little longer than normal as she’s on the 91st centile but she has the weight behind her. The circumference of her bonce is on the 50th centile so that’s normal I think. At least not a pinhead.

She continues to love her food and drink though milk is becoming a bit of a chore during the day. Having water, yog yog, milk and all the other fluids plus solids she is getting all the right stuff so that is good. Hopefully once she gets crawling she’ll lose a bit of the fatty legs to keep her energy levels going.

Rachel sets aside an afternoon every now and then to get her food made in batches that can be frozen and then mixed and matched. One pot chicken, with cheesy broccoli and sweet potato all end up in a plate and then the next is a variation, perhaps with fish. Her initial dislike of tomato was dealt with by a Neapolitan type sauce, with a little garlic and basil, which was added to pasta stars. All cleared away by our little Gutsy.

On Thursday 15 Heidi uttered her first words – “Mama” and carried on saying it incessantly. Exactly a week later she decided to say “Dada” although much more quietly. She looks at the right person now when saying it too, which is nice.

This weekend will see us looking at moving her to another car seat as she will be getting too big for hers now. She is still OK, but we’ll start looking.

Her trips to Jolly Babies continue, and yesterday she met Rebecca with her little Dominic. He gave Heidi hugs and a cuddle and looked after her – he will be about the same as Fred; about three years. She likes meeting little people…..