Daisy Suzanne Allen
Born Sunday 6th March 2011
2nd birthday
Her life: Birth ♥ Week 1 ♥ Weeks 2-3 ♥ Weeks 4-7 ♥ Weeks 8-13 ♥ Weeks 14-22 ♥ 5-7 months ♥ 7-8 months ♥ 8-10 months ♥ 1st Christmas ♥ 10-12 months ♥ 1st birthday party ♥ 12-15 months ♥ 15-18 months ♥ 18-21 months ♥ 21-24 months ♥ 2nd birthday ♥ 2-2½ years ♥ 2½-3 years ♥ 3rd birthday ♥ 3-3¼ years ♥ 3¼-3½ years ♥ 3½-3¾ years ♥ 3¾-4 years ♥ 4th birthday
In summary: Index ♥ From birth to four years old ♥ Four years old onwards
Special features: Daisy translator ♥ Daisy cookery ♥ Daisy phrases ♥ Golden Bear
Well, time has flown, as is its wont, and we find ourselves in the week of Daisy's 2nd birthday. As for Christmas, it was in stages, with multiple present opening sessions. Grandma Avis and Granddad Graham were down for an elongated weekend and, on the Saturday, Suze (with the twins) and Nic popped over in the morning to see Daisy (and Lynne of course). Daisy wasn't feeling 100%, but she perked up with the offer of chocolate cake. She had a whopping great slab (sufficiently large that she barely touched her pub lunch an hour or two later), sprinkling crumbs everywhere but grinning winningly, as this shot shows.
We were in the midst of a glut of dry, sunny (ish) weather, so we headed outside. Evie fancied a go on her old trampoline (generously donated along with the Wendy house). Here she stores up potential energy and is luckily wearing trousers.
Boing! Up she goes, with ultimate concentration.
Ellie gives her best grin whilst in the Wendy house. As Daisy has correctly pointed out on subsequent reflection, that is Daisy's coat to the left hand side of the photo (I don't bother cropping them generally).
Daisy then popped in to the Wendy house for some over-exaggerated camera smiling.
Daisy fancied a bit of "me time" in the greenhouse...
...but it didn't last long as the twins joined her, not that she minded.
In fact, they got stuck in moving the pebbles around. Grrr...
Now's time for a slide and a smile.
I gave Ellie control of my older camera, having secured it to her wrist. She proceeded to take a fairly arty shot of Grandad Graham on the lawn looking thoughtful.
She also got a shot of her sister (and her mother's boots).
On the day itself, it was the inevitable barrage of present opening. Actually, time was tight because we had plans, so there weren't lots of presents opened in the first session of the day, but those that were, were done so in a blur.
What is it, Daddy, what is it? Answer: it's a cash register. She wasn't fervent in her present opening, as was the case at Christmas preferring to open and then experience each present first.
It turned out to be a popular toy, complete with Open All Hours-style exploding cash drawer and mildly amplified microphone for supermarket-wide announcements. ("Spillage in aisle four, spillage in aisle four", etc.) It also prompted Daisy's new favourite phrase: "nigh nigh pee!", which means 99p, inspired by a trip to the shop (either that or she is opening up a rival chain of stores to the Pound Shop).
This is very much a rare treat. Yoghurt for breakfast. Daisy has historically been content to be fed such things, but since going to nursery (fact refresher: she goes two mornings a week to Kids Allowed), she likes to take full control, having honed her spoon-handling technique.
This is not, actually, a birthday present (in fact, it was a Christmas present from Nana Sue), but it served as a mini throne for the birthday girl.
More soon.
How soon is now? Answer: very. So, our plan for the day was to head to the Blue Planet aquarium in Ellesmere Port, thus avoiding any weather-related issues. Here Lynne and Daisy check out some fish (this is a theme).
With Daisy old enough to run around herself, she had the freedom of the place. She looks like she is plotting - she very probably was. She is wearing her birthday badge.
Some of the fish were easily as big as Daisy, and kinda odd-looking.
A bunch of piranha hovered in formation, unmoving.
Daisy loved to climb up the stairs and go into the little hut, so much so that she didn't want to follow us round the rest of the aquarium.
There weren't just fish - there were also frogs and snakes. No frogs here, just a snake.
The chances of Daisy managing to put her hands in the water were minimal (see the sign at the top right).
She desperately wanted a go in the Octopus submarine. We suspected she wouldn't like it but put a pound in anyway. As the vehicle started lurching and Madness ("House Of Fun") blared out of the speakers, her eagerness rapidly gave way to tears of fear, and she was quickly removed. (Later on, she occasionally wandered back here, motioned to get on, then realised what happened the last time she did and quickly ran the other way.)
An open section featured relatively shallow pools of large fish and rays. You were allowed to touch the rays (which we didn't) but not anything else.
This is a poor quality picture, but I've kept it in as it's the only one of the walkway, with which Daisy was absolutely fascinated, walking back and forth, hopping on and off, patting it with her hands, sitting down on it.
And not great lighting here, but shows the menacing nature of the sharks. Lynne was fascinated with their multiple layers of crazy teeth.
Lunchtime and we headed for the canteen before the crazy rush (there were a number of large school parties, although they had their own packed lunches it turned out). Inevitably, chips featured. She does eat more healthily than these pages suggest.
We were back home by 1.30pm, after another go on the walkway, and it was time for some more present opening. We certainly had the quantity of presents to be able to string this out for the duration of the day. (My) Aunty Judy and Uncle Jim had popped round on the Sunday to kindly drop off their present, a shopping trolley, which went perfectly (was it planned?) with the till we had bought her, plus the shopping basket and plentiful supply of fake food. (The keen-eyed children's TV connoisseurs will spot the Mr Men Show on the telly in the background.)
Aunty Louise and Uncle Paul had bought her (amongst other things) some Play-Doh, which Daisy promptly stacked in a tower.
It was then time to play with Play-Doh, with its unique smell.
A sleep later, and Nana Sue, Aunty Katie and Uncle Jordan were round. I'd made a triumvirate of pizzas from scratch for the occasion, which Daisy seemed to appreciate.
There were clear plates all round as Daisy washed it all down with her drink, with Aunty Katie watching on, meditating.
Birthday cake was in the form of a chocolate log, with vanilla ice cream and Malteser sprinkles (i.e. Maltesers bashed senseless in a plastic bag). It was right up Daisy's street.
This had to be photographed - Nana Sue's new toy, complete with her favourite game Balls Breaker. Dare you mess?
A nice view of the modern era. As Katie reads a Peppa Pig book (that features Daisy Allen!), Jordan and Nana Sue bury their heads in their electronic toys.
Daisy is soon seduced by the Samsung and its hypnotic Balls Breaker (can I say that?).
But it was all too much. Daisy had not been feeling 100% and she was soon very tired at the end of a long day (well, same length as the others, but she did a lot of running around at Blue Planet), so she snuggled in with Kitty and Katie, before having a bath which she did not remotely enjoy.
And that is more or less all from her 2nd birthday. Photos from her third year (third year!!) will be up as and when.