Christmas and Cafe

As mentioned briefly in the last post, we have Afternoon Tease cafe up and running!! I am utterly exhausted, but it is getting there, I am proud of it, and I am also so, so proud of Miranda. She has been coming in to work with Mum every day, and she is so good in there. It is sometimes difficult because when I have a rush of customers, I have to put Miri down and give other people my attention, which she occasionally objects to; but fortunately I have the ever-lovely Auntie Jo to help me out and sing songs about Hippos to her. For the most part though, Miri seems quite happy in there. We have constructed her a play corner, with her soft mat, things to bash, a train set, cuddly toy collection, bricks, a knitted tea set, high chair, and now a proper baby change so she can have her bum cleaned in a more dignified fashion. She slurps on her babycinos in there and orders me about from the high chair, and gets fussed over by friends and strangers. I think, she is interested enough in people and new faces, that she shouldn't get too bored in the cafe. A lot of people, even total strangers, have commented that she seems such a contented baby. I do feel lucky that she is so easy to look after and happy to amuse herself at such a young age.

She is a very social baby though, as became evident over Christmas. We aimed to have a quieter Christmas than normal because it was the first one with Miri, but we still ended up covering half the length of the country visiting relatives. So weird to see family who hadn't yet met Miranda! She was spoilt rotten, unsurprisingly. Of course, the wrapping paper was much more interesting thatn the presents, but she got some lovely stuff. Carl got her a huge bag of bricks and she loves chewing them and bashing them together. Lots of books too, including the Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. I remember them from when I was young, and I love reading them to her! She also ate and ate and ate, scoffing blended up Christmas dinner including sprouts, and fruit salad and trifle and even a Christmas tree shaped chocolate and bits of popadom and raita when we went for a curry on New Year's day.

She had such an exciting week that she was refusing to go to sleep at night in case she missed something. This began to get ridiculous, especially when I only managed to get her to bed at 11.50pm on 31st Dec, having allowed her to toast 2011 with pineapple juice in her new beaker beforehand. Poor baby was exhausted though because as soon as we got home (we were staying with her Granny and Grandad), she crashed out and slept for 13 hours. It was so lovely sharing in her first Christmas, I hope she enjoyed herself too!