Lily Catarina

Lily (10.5 months old), despite being seldom mentioned on the blog to date, is very much with us, a gorgeous, sweet-natured presence. So that the little cherub doesn't feel left out (I'll do this for you too one day Lily - promise!), here is a special blog dedicated to Lily Catarina.

Since arriving in India, Lily has spent all of her time either ensconced in our brilliant new Ergo baby carrier (the king of the slings - see picture) when outside and when inside, burbling, snoozing, hurling herself off the bed in her attempts to become more mobile and pulling Maya's curls. She is in wonderful spirits and although a constant sheen of sweat always seems to cover her little face, the heat doesn't seem to be bothering her too much yet.

Lily is faring better than her big sister on the food front and in the past week, she has happily digested dosas, mild curries and curd. The other day we bought a blender so very slowly (but very surely!) I'm adding a little bit of spice to her food which she hasn't objected to.

I know I mentioned before that Lily doesn't like wearing her sunhat....well, naturally for the above photo she is wearing it, as if to tell you all that I'm fibbing. But honestly, I think this was the only occasion she agreed to wear it for more than 2 minutes! I plaster her with factor 50 and stay in the shade as much as possible, but there's not too much else I can do. I think her hair has already gone a bit lighter - if she keeps her hat rebellion up, she'll return from India a little blondie.

Something else to mention is that whenever we go to Andy's office, one or another of the ladies working there immediately whisks Lily away. This happens so quickly that she's normally too confused to cry and now seems quite happy to be spirited away, clucked and cooed over. I don't want to imply for a minute that Lily is not aware of her surroundings, but because she is so transportable and receptive to nearly all food and drink, this huge lifestyle change has had minimum impact on her life. Having said that, she really is becoming a liability in her attempts to crawl, slither and pull herself up on various things. I jested earlier about her falling off the bed, but actually, it was a nasty shock for her at the time and today the poor darling is sporting a slight black eye. However, she would be trying to move whether in India or England and the fact that our present apartment is about twice the size of our old pad in Godmanchester in terms of floor space can only be a good thing. But tomorrow we move into a little apartment with lots of hard floors so great for crawling practice but not so great for falling practice! I'll need to keep those eyes in the back of my head switched on...

To conclude with Lily's blog, she's happy, she's healthy (black eye aside) and she's embracing India with both of her chubby little arms.