Lucy milestones

Lucy is now 4 and half months old. Here's what she is up to.

She now rolls on her side on her playmat and in her cot.

For the last week or two she has been turning around in her cot. We have added a colourful bumper down one side to stop her from bumping her head. Last night she did a 180 degree turn. She doesn't seem too bothered by ending up lying across her cot. As with pretty much everything, she doesn't complain much. She is also happier on her front than Oliver was. Today she rolled onto her front with only a little extra help from Hayley. And then she tried to crawl! Slow down little girl!

We've got a screamer! Lucy likes to bat merry hell out of the bird on the playmat and is quite dexterous with the other toys on there. As she pulls at them she screams! Sometimes her face goes red. It was quite scary at first, but there's no doubt she is happy. She will break off from her screaming to give you a big smile, then carry on.

Lucy chats away and makes some sounds consistently. A sort of "ma ma ma" sound and also one that sounds spookily like "Oliver".

She is a grabber too. She likes holding my fingers in her hands and has quite a grip. Yesterday she inflicted tangible pain on me by twisting my little fingers in the wornd direction.

She can happily spend ages in the Baby Bjorn front carrier. You almost forget she's there, she is so quiet and happy watching everything her pilot is doing. Last night she fell asleep in the carrier on me while I tidied the kitchen and made her bottles.

She is very interested in food now. She has been watching us eat for a couple of weeks and even grabs at your food if sitting on your knee. The other day she even pulled at the tablecloth, as if to get the bowl nearer after I moved it away. Could have been coincidence but... She has tasted ice cream and last night had some whipped cream from the Etons Mess we were enjoying.

Above all she loves to be talked to and to be involved. Most of the time you only have to smile at her and she'll smile back. She is such a smiler! An absolute treasure.

In summary, Lucy is still a little dream of a baby. Hayley left her with our friend Jo for half an hour yesterday and her comment afterwards was "she's so contented, you could forget she's there!"