November 30, 2001
Nova has a TOOTH! We were having our morning cuddle when I thought I noticed something in her mouth. On closer inspection it was definitely the top edge of a tooth -- her bottom right front tooth. I wanted to call my parents up right away, but I restrained myself as it was after midnight in Canada.

It doesn't seem to be bothering her much, although she constantly explores it with her tongue or hand. It is so like Nova to cut her first tooth without any fuss. Oddly enough, I bought her a teething ring yesterday evening, so I gave it to her and she's been gnawing away industriously. I wonder how long the tooth will take to emerge? I am going to miss her beautiful little gummy smile...

This week's other achievements rather pale in comparison: she can put her foot in her mouth, and lifts her head up to peer around when she's lying on her back. And she's giggling. And she ate potato and green bean purée without complaint. I blended it to a silky smoothness, which seems to have helped. I think her main objection was to the grainy texture. I wonder if she's grown this tooth as a self-defense mechanism against my lumpy purées?

November 29, 2001
Nova has all these anatomically inaccurate "educational" toys -- a six-legged spider, an eight-legged lady bug, a five-legged octopus, a four legged fly. I know it's unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but it annoys me all the same. It's seems an easy thing to get right, and it would make them even more educational -- "See, spiders have eight legs, Nova." We've christened the five-legged creature her pentapus.

November 28, 2001
Another great night last night -- 11:30pm to 7am. It is amazing how much better I feel after a decent chunk of sleep. The world is a brighter, happier place somehow... I've still got the congestion, but it's moved out of my head and settled in my chest. My legs don't feel so leaden, and I can stand up without feeling dizzy. Nova is nearly over her cold as well, which is excellent, and she's seems to be of an altogether cheerier disposition this morning.

It's been very hard to cope with her on my own while I've been feeling so lousy. Adam's done as much as he can, letting me doze for an extra 15 minutes while he got her ready in the morning, and coming home in time to help with the evening routine, but there is an awful lot of day in the middle to get through.

Outings have been minimal -- surgical strikes on the chemists for tissues and Vicks, or the deli for orange juice -- and all the time indoors has left Nova feeling bored, cranky and restless. If I continue feeling okay, and the weather holds, we're planning to walk over to Crouch End this afternoon.

November 26, 2001
I've got nearly total laryngitis this morning, but aside from that I think I'm feeling better -- at least my head's not pounding...

Nova slept from 11pm until 6am so I got a good rest, which makes a big difference. Adam's planning to come home in time to do the bedtime routine, and Nova and I will rub along together until then. She seems bemused by my whispery voice, and I've been making her laugh by pulling faces.

November 25, 2001
Nova's had a cold for the last week, and yesterday I finally came down with it as well. No surprise I guess, given all the nose related activities I've had to perform (I'm not going into details here...)

On Friday afternoon we went down to Jamie's pleasure palace for a visit with Alyssa and some afternoon play time. He has loads of toys, and was a great opportunity to test drive a few things before Hanukkah/Christmas.

My nose was a bit tickly on the walk home, and by Saturday morning the head cold had set in. Yesterday was very busy, with a long list of errands, then Ben and Pogle came over (he cooked us an incredible dinner -- chili squid in coconut-herb sauce, seared tuna on a bed of rosti potatoes with a fresh green sauce, and a wicked chocolate-hazelnut cake) so I didn't get the early night I should have done.

I've spent today on the couch though. Adam has done nearly all the babycare and managed to baby me as well, so I hope I'll be feeling a bit better tomorrow when I'm flying solo again.

November 22, 2001
The weaning process continues to be an adventure. I made Nova green bean and potato purée today. I thought it tasted pretty good, but Nova wasn't of the same opinion. She opened her mouth happily for the first spoonful, no doubt anticipating something like the tasty banana-pear mash she'd had for breakfast.

A look of total disbelief crossed her face, followed by a face twisting grimace. She spat out at least twice as much as I'd put in, then opened her mouth and bawled, really loud, angry crying, and looked at me so accusingly with tear-filled eyes that I felt like I'd tried to poison her.

I slunk back to the kitchen and mashed up some banana and baby rice. I settled her on my knee again, and coaxed a spoonful into her mistrustful face. It was definitely the worst reaction I've had so far, although cauliflower purée was pretty unpopular as well. So far:

It'd be nice to have a few more veggies in the "Nova likes" column. Courgette and papaya are next in line, and I'm planning to bake her a potato before I give up on it entirely -- apparently it makes them sweeter.

November 21, 2001
Nova went for her second course of vaccinations yesterday. She didn't seem to have any memory of the previous visit -- she was grinning away and making her little sheep shoes rattle as the screams of the baby ahead of us shook the waiting room. She greeted the nurse with a big smile (although the taste of the polio vaccine soon wiped that off her face) but she didn't cry with either needle. It was soon over with, at least for another four weeks.

Alyssa and Jamie had the appointment after us, so we went round to theirs for tea and mutual sympathy afterward. Jamie has all sorts of cool toys that Nova enjoyed playing with, while Jamie was most interested in gnawing on Nova's foot. Perhaps he's bored with his toys...

Thought it was time to be off after Nova sicked up on the carpet. Fortunately it was more than 15 minutes after her polio drops or I would have had to take her back for another dose.

November 19, 2001
Nova had her best night's sleep ever last night. Other than a quick feed at 2:30 she slept from 7pm 'til 7am. I think it was brought about by an inadvertent triple whammy of adjustments to the routine. Our recipe for sleep-all-night baby was:

• Stuff baby with three times the recommended amount of puree.
• Soak baby in a very warm bath until pink.
• Baste with lotion, squeeze into close fitting flannel romper suit, and fill with generous amount of breast milk.
• Place baby in bedroom preheated by radiator and convection heater.
• Leave for 12 hours until done, checking once if necessary.

It came about more through accident than design. We hadn't intended for her bath to be quite so warm. Nova didn't seem to mind, but I noticed that she was rosier than usual when I was lotioning her afterwards. We'd set up the convection heater in her room so we could turn it on if it got too cold, but Adam had unknowingly left it on low all afternoon.

We won't be following this recipe exactly in future. Even if we could afford the heating bill, we couldn't live with the guilt of single-handedly scuppering the UK's attempts to meet its CO2 reduction targets... ;-)

November 17, 2001
This "being a guest in your own home" thing is becoming a bit of a trend... Antonia and Doron came round and cooked a lovely meal here last night for us, Adam's parents, and Antonia's mom Maureen who was visiting from Bristol. We had a delicious tomato-lentil soup with Turkish bread, followed by nut roast and all the trimmings. It was great, and I scarcely lifted a finger all evening. Lots of tasty leftovers as well...

I met up with a woman from my antenatal class in the afternoon. Caron and I were originally due on the same date (June 21st), so when I finally went in for my induction on the evening of July 3rd, it was a surprise to find her undergoing same thing in the next cubicle. Our inductions took very different paths -- I took off like a shot and then stalled, whereas she took 24 hours to get labour started but managed to avoid a c-section. (As I was staggering up and down the corridor in pain I noticed her flicking through a magazine in her cubicle -- "I think something might be happening..." -- and she was enjoying an ice cream in a nearby park about the time I was abandoning gas and air for an epidural.) All the same, our common experience has meant that I feel closer to her than the other new moms I know.

November 16, 2001
Nova had swede purée for tea yesterday, and I'd have to say that she seemed a little underwhelmed. The look of alarm on her face as she tasted the first mouthful was pretty cute. She's such an accommodating little soul that she ate it uncomplainingly, but the enthusiasm she's shown for apple or sweet potato was lacking. And she was definitely hungry...

We'd walked to Muswell Hill earlier with Dave to do some shopping for a Diwali (Hindu New Year) supper. I'd bundled Nova up in layers of fleece, moccasins, toque, etc, and even bought her some purple fluffy mittens, because her little hands have been getting really cold on recent outings. She slept peacefully for the first hour or so, but it turned out to be a three-hour expedition, which is a long time for her to be outdoors. I could tell she was getting hungry by the determined way she was sucking on her new mitts. By the time we got home, her mittens were sopping wet, her mouth was ringed with lavender fluff, and I felt like the worst mom in the world. And to cap it all off, there were turnips for tea...

The adults fared much better. Dave cooked up a feast: zucchini "meatballs" in a creamy sauce, a delicious sweet and sour aubergine, chickpea potato curry, mint raita, chappatis and pickles. I made a lemon rice, Adam brought the beer, and we finished with a delicious cup of chai.

November 15, 2001
Nova likes Simon and Garfunkel (I'm not sure whether to read anything into that), especially Sound of Silence and The Boxer. I play different things to her when we are upstairs during the day, and Adam and I both sing to her when we're trying to settle her (she doesn't seem to mind...)

I've got lots of songs to choose from, but Adam's repetoire is composed of Twinkle, Twinkle; Let the Rest of the World Go By; and Me and Bobby McGee, sung in that order. I sing a lot of nonsense to her as well. Bee Bop a Nova is a strong favourite: Bee bop a Nova/ She's our baby/ Bee bop a Nova, don't mean maybe etc. A couple of tunes I sang to her when pregnant still feature:

• Hello Baby (sung to tune of Hello Dolly): Hello baby/ This is mommy, baby/ It's so nice to know you're there where you belong/ You're looking swell, baby/ I can tell, baby/ That you're going to come out healthy, fit and strong/ To see your heart beating/ Is a real treat and/ It just sends your dad and me over the moon/ Grow and eat, baby/ Wave those hands and feet, baby/ Can't wait to meet you in June!
• Indigestible (sung to tune of Unforgettable): Indigestible/ In every way/ Indigestible/ It's here to stay/ Oh my baby, it's incredible/ Food could be so damned inedible/ Indigestible/ Is what I say

November 14, 2001
Happy 32nd birthday Wade -- I hope you have a super birthday!

Nova went for her monthly weigh-in at the health visitor's yesterday. She weighed 14lbs 1oz, which keeps her firmly on the 50th percentile line on the growth chart. I asked the health visitor about the solids, and she suggested giving Nova her baby rice in the evening to "tide her over" so she sleeps longer. I tried it last night, and she was up and down like a yoyo...

I don't think it had anything to do with the feeding though. It's dropping below freezing at nights now, and I think maybe she is waking up when she gets cold. Her little hands and feet were pretty chilly when I went in at 2am. I'm going to have to ask my parents how they kept us warm enough when the thermometer dropped to 40 below in those Prince George winters.

November 13, 2001
Nova's horoscope for this week:
"With so much happening in your sign, you could be forgiven for thinking that the easiest thing to do is to have a rest -- but you'd be wong. It's easier to get on with things, as trying to sleep will only give you time to think too much. Action is the word you should have as your mantra."

So that's why she's still not sleeping through the night... Actually she wasn't too bad last night: she slept from 6:30 to 12am, then 'til 4, then we woke her up at 7ish. But I'd love to lose that 4am feed...

November 12, 2001
Spent the weekend in Surrey with Ben, Michaela and Aphra. They've recently moved back from Australia and settled in a little village outside of Oxted. We left London at about 3:30 Saturday afternoon, and made the journey in just over an hour, which was great going. Nova slept the whole time -- another bonus. They've been living in their new home for only a week, but unsurprisingly to those who know them, they'd completely unpacked and fully furnished the cottage already (fellow Virgoans!).

Aphra was lovely with Nova, and kept suggesting toys Nova might like to borrow, games they could play together etc. She'd even agreed to let us stay in her new bedroom for the night, so after popping the girls in the bath together, I settled Nova and went downstairs for dinner. We had a excellent evening catching up and drinking wine (and gallons of water in my case...) Stayed up until 1:30 -- it's been a long time since I've done that without Nova's help!

Morning came too soon for everyone but the girls... After breakfast we went for a long walk to blow the cobwebs out. Adam carried Nova in the sling, where she was cozy and warm and even managed to nap. Back to the cottage for kedgeree, then we hit the road. Again we got lucky with the traffic and made it back in just over an hour. We have friends with homes in London that take longer to get to.

November 9, 2001
Nova's rolling over technique is coming along nicely. She rolled from back to front when we were in Kelowna, but I think it was an accident (it wasn't repeated for a few more weeks at any rate...)

Last week she mastered the back to front roll -- lifting her legs up to swing over as leverage, wrestling the trapped arm out from underneath etc. She was very pleased with herself and has spent ages on her tummy ever since, looking at the world from this new perspective.

The hitch comes when she wants to roll onto her back again. She can do it -- I've seen her do it half a dozen times -- but it's not as automatic as going back to front and she gets frustrated and grizzles about it.

Once she's got both her rolls working smoothly, I imagine she be able to log roll across the living room if she chooses. She can already cover a surprising amount of territory just by wriggling around on her stomach.

November 8, 2001
When I was young I wasted a fair amount of time practicing being able to perform tasks with my feet instead of my hands. I would use my toes to pick up things from the ground rather than bending over, and I got so that I could "hand" myself the receiver with my foot, then dial the number (on the rotary dial) with my toes.

I had no idea back then how useful all that practice would be some day... Nowadays, I'm constantly using my toes to pick up things I drop, to reach for my magazine on the floor when I'm breastfeeding, to nudge the remote control to where I can pick it up etc.

November 6, 2001
It was mission impossible trying to settle Nova on Guy Fawkes' night yesterday: "Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to settle a cranky, stuffy baby while random loud explosions and flashes of light occur all around you."

Unlike Canada, anyone can buy fireworks in the UK, and the Brits are mad for them. In the week between Halloween and Guy Fawkes', they go off nightly. We know the season is upon us when the noise from the boys' school nearby -- usually a mix of running feet, off-key music practice and foul language -- suddenly includes strings of exploding firecrackers as well.

As dusk falls, the show begins. We are fortunate enough to live at the highest point in London in a house with windows on all sides, and our view is amazing. (London is a densely populated, flat city, and a view of anything but your neighbours' wall is a bonus.)

Abandoning the idea of settling Nova, I brought her upstairs to watch the show. There were three displays in full swing quite close by, and others visible on the horizon. "Look, Nova, isn't it beautiful!" I said, and looked down to see her staring glumly at a leafless tree outside the window. "No, sweetie, over here!" I said, raising her up. Her eyes widened as a magnificent series of explosions filled the front window, and I spent the rest of the time watching her watch fireworks instead of looking at them myself.

November 5, 2001
Pete, Liana and baby Martha stayed the weekend with us. It's always good to see them, but visits are now pretty baby centred -- between caring for the two girls, there's very little time to sit and talk. Martha is exactly four months older than Nova, and it's interesting to see what skills she's mastered.

This visit, I was amazed at how much food an eight-month-old baby eats. As I was preparing Nova's teaspoon of baby rice in her little dish, Pete was mashing a big banana into a tub of yogurt and adding a generous helping of baby muesli to that. And that was just breakfast... she tucks away a solid lunch and tea as well.

Unfortunately Nova seems to have picked up Martha's terrible chest cold. She has been coughing all morning, and there's a rattle to her breathing. She's cheerful enough though, so it can't be bothering her too much. I just hope she shakes it off quickly.

November 3, 2001
We went to a baby resuscitation class last night, or at least I did -- the car broke down on Highgate Hill again, about two blocks past where it died last week, so I walked the rest of the way to the class and Adam waited for the AA.

The class covered cot death, mouth to mouth and heart massage, and choking. The instructor went through the procedures a few times then we took turns practicing our technique on dolls. It was pretty much the same as what I learned in lifeguard training, but a very necessary refresher after 20 years. Everybody was in couples except for one dad whose wife had stayed home with the baby, so we teamed up. He was a very interesting guy, a filmmaker who happened to live on Highgate Hill, so we walked home together afterward. I thought I saw Adam drive past as I turned the corner at Archway, but by the time I confirmed it was our licence plate he was out of range.

Nova was upstairs with Pete and Liana when I got home, looking bright eyed and bushy tailed. She didn't settle until after midnight, and then had me up and down every couple of hours until she decided it was time to start the day... at 5:30am...

November 1, 2001
Nova went to her first fancy dress party last night. It was at Alyssa and Adrian's, who live just five minutes walk away. Alyssa had mentioned it a couple of weeks ago, but I thought it was more of a vague idea than a confirmed event, so when she called and said, "Are you coming tonight?" I had to scramble around for costumes.

Adam's no problem -- he can choose from any number of garments in his wardrobe and chances are he'll be the most outlandishly dressed person there. He wore his big purple blouse, his sunflower trousers and his Glastonbury hat and went as a wizard. I wore various black layers and a cape fastened with a huge diamanté spider, and went as a witch. I sewed a tail onto Nova's white sleeper and a pair of ears onto her black watch cap and she went as a cat.

Not surprisingly all the other new moms were dressed as witches (an obvious choice for the post-partum figure), and we flocked around our infants on the floor like a murder of crows. There were some pretty cute babies, in particular a chubby little red devil called Lara, who gave Nova a run for her money. Baby Louis was positively Babe Ruth-like in his little baseball uniform (and he was such a skinny little thing when he was born...)

We left about 8pm, just as the second shift of guests (ie. people without kids) were starting to arrive. One thing I noticed: we seemed to be the only new parents who brought alcohol. It wasn't that people weren't drinking -- Alyssa provided beer and there was a wickedly alcoholic berry punch that a few new parents were making a determined assault on. It seems that the done thing is to bring a present for the host's child. I'll have to ask some more seasoned parents about this... By the way, Adam was the most outlandishly dressed person there!