Ingrid and I were favoured by a visit from our 13 month old granddaughter yesterday. We had not seen her in over a month and could see big changes. She was walking very confidently and making a lot of baby conversation with all the right adult intonation. In amongst the babble was a "wha'at?" accompanied by a finger pointing and, later, an "Eddie" while pointing at a print of a cat by Rosina Wachtmeister. This later turned into repeated utterances of "Eddie-ya-cat" when Claire kept returning to our bedroom where the picture is hanging. It was all very cute. For those who may not know, "Eddie" is the name of the Boothroyd's cat at home - a grey cat that looks nothing like the Wachtmeister depiction but the resemblance to a cat was enough to set Claire going.
Claire also kept us entertained by deliberately dropping some puzzle pieces off the edge of the couch, watching our reactions, and then climbing off to pick them up again. I'm sure it doesn't sound like much to the reader but Ingrid and I thought this was all very clever :-) I once read somewhere that grandchildren are the reward for not murdering our children when they were teenagers.
