Elsie has been lovely tonight, we had a very bonding bath time of animal noises and singing. She is still my gorgeous girl, she’s just becoming her own woman! I think I’ve just been spoilt up till now really. I was speaking to a girl across the road who has a little boy a little older than Elsie and she is finding this stage an absolute joy because her son did so much crying and so little sleeping for the first 9 months of his life. Because Elsie was pretty easy really as a baby I am now shocked and horrified to discover than parenting isn’t a breezy bed of roses!! No, it wasn’t all easy, of course it wasn’t, but I always felt confident that I could trust my instincts, and Elsie and I could do our thing, and we were both happy so that was fine. But now there are decisions to be made, the way we deal with her behaviour and situations is a choice, not intuitive any more. It’s just harder than it was – there is still the joy and the wonder, but there’s other stuff too.

This is Elsie and Maria choosing us a DVD to watch (they chose Bride & Prejudice in the end!)