Daisy Suzanne Allen
Born Sunday 6th March 2011
2 to 2½ years old
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
A Sunday in the middle of March took us Brookdale Theatre in Bramhall for Harry's second birthday party, on St. Patrick's Day, no less. We got there a bit late and Daisy was initially reluctant to join in, preferring instead the safe harbour of her mother.
It wasn't too long, though, before she was joining in, here getting well into the big sheet shaking activity, although she was a little carried away by the more vigorous oscillations provided by the boy next door.
Here it is in all its glory.
Daisy elected not to partake in the mild chaos the Okie Kokie, but did not pass on the opportunity to play Sleeping Bunnies. Hmm, I wonder how long we can get them to stay like this. Note: Daisy's refusal to relinquish two of the plastic balls from earlier (one pictured).
And then it was buffet time. Yay! There was also a buffet for the adults, but I took a bit from both (especially when the kids had evacuated the table later on - it was a good job since it was all tipped into bin bags in short order at the end of the party).
Out came the excellently-crafted birthday cake, and Daisy found herself in a prime spot.
The lighting of the candle doth ensued. Two years old, as we saw at Daisy's various birthday parties, is not quite the age to blow out candles on your own.
If we'd been really good, we would have done this every few months for a great series of photos. But we haven't. (Well, I haven't.) From left to right, [deep breath] Sally and Alex, Vicky and Harry, Lynne and Daisy, Bernie and Blythe, Jo and Eva, Lucy and Elise, and Natalie and Maisie. NCT-ers Assemble. Or something.
That's all. Will we get any (first) shots of Daisy in the snow. Will we? Will WE? WILL WE? Etc.
Find out soon, Daisy fans.
The answer is no. There were just a few more smatterings so that, despite the continued cold, there were few opportunities for Daisy to play in the snow. Ah well, another time. Anyway, rewind a day from the party above, and this is how I left the girls when I headed over to Leeds for Mark's 30th birthday, taking over the lounge with Play-Doh.
A week later and it's time for more arts and crafts, taking advantage of the Daisy's party bag containing mini paints. She was prolific, churning out masterpieces as if she was just randomly daubing paint on pieces of paper. We were hopeful they would go for substantial amounts of money.
This is what happens when you leave the door to the little lounge open and the laptop lying around.
This is what happen when you leave your trainers lying around. They go well with Daisy's pyjamas.
This is what happen when you leave Matt lying around. On April Fool's Day, he and Nic had finally dug their way out of a huge mound of snow and made it over to share Daisy's birthday presents with her. (It's ok, it was in the afternoon, so there was no chance of the gifts being a joke.) Nic looks on, amused by the two young kids' performances.
The next weekend saw a trip to Waterdale close, and the presentation of yet another present, this time a second attempt with the originally-broken Sylvanian Family set. Aunty Katie watches on.
Sometimes it needs some precision playing. This is Daisy putting a small book on a small desk for a small bear.
Daisy Allen, lover of chairs the world over.
It was actually a pretty nice day outside, so we spent a fair amount of time out there. Here, Daisy chats with a duck.
Aunty Katie teaches Daisy a great new game involving creating mounds of stones. (Actually, this is not dissimilar to the game that a drunken teenage Katie invented, which involved trying to count all the stones here. That did happen.)
I'm not doing anything wrong, Dad! At some point, there was a cracking incident where I did a jokey diving header of a tennis ball, which was perfectly (but accidentally) timed to ricochet of the head of Nana Sue just as she rose from the blanket. Much hilarity ensued (for Katie, Jordan and I, anyway).
Well, after all that excitement, it was time for some food. Nana Sue had done Daisy a little cold platter, whereas we had Mexican-style food (nachos, quesadillas and lots of cheese).
The house fascinated her...
...as she took the characters up and down the ladder. This would be put in the special toy box that would reside at Waterdale for future visits. (Saves us dragging a bag of toys back and forth anyway.)
Later that day, a tiring and slightly worried looking Daisy is flanked by her two partners in crime, Kitty and Bunny.
More soon.
OK, so it wasn't that soon. Illness, being busy at work, and a laptop malfunction have all contributed to a lack of updating on this fair page, but I am back in action now. So, where were we? April 21st was the birthday of Nana Sue, and with her having only recently landed from a trip to New York, Katie prepared her chilli (but at Waterdale Close, rather than Katie's place which we headed to first - we never actually confirmed where we were meant to convent). Here, Daisy chose the standing up to eat option, doing so impeccably.
You don't get any awards (or information) for counting the number of candles on the chocolate cake...
...but Daisy was keen to join in.
Needless to say, Daisy was also very eager to tuck into the chocolate cake. It was rather a large piece, but it kept her going for the afternoon.
As Daisy's hair grows ever more unruly, Lynne reluctantly accepted the duty of putting her hair in pigtails, or this is a ponytail. I can't quite tell.
A week later and here is a good example of just how long Daisy's hair has become.
A week later, Daisy wore her pink daisy dress to her friend Charlotte's birthday party, for which her hair was reined under control again. (Come here for all your hair updates.)
One of Daisy's new favourite TV characters is Mr Tumble, and here she imitates sign language for deer.
On the Saturday of the May Day bank holiday weekend, there were the beginnings of a gloriously weathered three days, for which Daisy donned her stylish shades and chilled out in her Wendy house.
Daisy continues to be happy to pose. You get a decent view of her chipped tooth with this shot. Aww.
I like this one for the looking-over-the-glasses look that Daisy gives me.
Given how sunny it was, I tried my new camera on some basic primary colours. This is the slide that Nana Sue bought for Daisy's 1st birthday (so it's over a year old now and still going strong - that's plastics for yer).
Included for the casual lean-on-elbow pose.
How to go down a slide with grace. Daisy still tends to keep her feet down, thus slowing down her descent.
How to solve the conundrum of Daisy needing to eat regular meals with her desire to stay outdoors for as long as possible...
The weather was scheduled to be so nice that we did what most of the country seemed to be doing on Bank Holiday Monday and took to the motorway. However, Lynne sagely suggested somewhere a little off the beaten track, like Morecambe (pictured here). Given the traffic around the junction for Blackpool, and subsequent stories of gridlock, we made the right choice. When we arrived, there was a stiff breeze and it was cloudy, so outer clothes remained on. Not that that would stop Daisy shovelling sand into her bucket.
By noon, it was still relatively quiet, but the sky was beginning to clear and the temperature was rising. The tide was quite far out by now, though - what you can see is just pools of water left in the sand.
Meanwhile, local toddler clothes catalogue, Daisy Allen, posed for a photo, kicking off her magazine modelling career in earnest.
Although walking on soft sand isn't easy. There was a battle over the hat; it was on and off for most of the afternoon, but ultimately Lynne won.
Daisy expressed a keenness for her legs to be buried in the sand, to which I could but oblige.
The next quest was to collect some shells from closer to the sea (not actually at the sea since the tide was well out)...
...so that we might create some sand and shell sculptures. This is one of the rare sandcastles to survive Daisy's destructive warpath.
Daisy and Lynne collect more shells. Whilst the forecast had only predicted a maximum temperature of around 13 or 14 degrees Celsius, in the sun it was of course much warmer (to which my subsequently sunburnt feet and shins would testify)
When we returned, I had the bright idea of combining playing outside with bathtime, although took considerable effort to get the water anything other than cold (many trips with the kettle and hot water from the tap). The flaw in the plan was that Daisy could exit and enter the pool at her will, not something which is conducive to a successful bathtime.
And that's the end of a well overdue update.
I'm back, and ready to another Daisy catch-up. Going back to early May, not long after the above pictures, Lynne again decided to try something with Daisy's hair, this time with a ponytail.
She looks like a proper little girl now, eh.
Having seen her mum mark assignments in her mini office, Daisy was keen to follow suit with the important task of colouring in.
Introducing Doctor Daisy, complete with her doctor's set. This set actually originates from a trip to the cricket a number of years ago (research suggests that this was the Saturday of the Test match between England and West Indies at Old Trafford way back in 2004) and it was dug out of the loft by Lynne. Would you trust this doctor?
Daisy loves it and repeatedly wants to play doctor or patient. Here, Lynne is the patient, failing to take it seriously following Daisy's attempt to prod and poke with various devices.
You have to expand your repertoire in today's medical industry, which Daisy has taken on board with her branching out into dentistry.
In fact, she was suitably enthralled by the doctor kit to take it to Nana Sue's for the Big Birthday Buffet Bonanza.
That above was the middle of May and the incidence of "very shortly afterwards" saw a trip to Chester Zoo. A couple of weeks later and the sunshine doth come forth. It was time. Time to get a sandpit. The inspiration for this was Daisy's obsession with the sandpit at the nursery.
OK, so it's lacking a bit of sand right now, but that doesn't stop Daisy's enjoyment.
Ah, here is the sun; I was beginning to wonder. Daisy loved her new car. I say "new", but I actually mean kindly passed along the line by the twins.
We soon had visitors. First, uncle Matt was placed on car-pushing duty.
It is an almost never-ending job, as Matt was slowly, painfully, beginning to discover.
Sooner or later it was bound to me my turn. Daisy would give a royal wave on passing by.
Uncle Matt soon switched to playing in the sandpit, if only to save on the energetic car pushing in the sunshine.
Mum and Jonathan later joined us for one big sand-fest. We still needed more sand, though. This was all before I disappeared off to Bakewell with the boys later that afternoon.
The next weekend saw some bubble-making fun.
Daisy was proud to show off one of her new outfits, including some brand new blue sneakers.
"Anywhere I can give you a lift to?"
I had a bit of time to kill before a day-trip to London for a training course, so why not spend it in the back garden in the sunshine with Daisy on the hopscotch? Why not indeed.
With the summer months very much upon us and kinda promising to deliver, it was time to switch to summer clothing, including some funky pyjamas with short trousers.
There followed a trip to Haddington and Aberfeldy. It had become really noticeable, in the last week or two, that Daisy was now much more willing to repeat what we were saying, as well as improving her pronunciation of some words (such that the Daisy translator was swiftly becoming redundant), and so it became much easier to converse with her. She still didn't quite have a complete grip on consonants, so whilst arsche was no longer used for red, it was still pronounced "yed" (and, strangely, yellow remained rerrow). Her grasp of grammar was, obviously, in its infancy, and was both fascinating and sweet. For example, she would say things like "where Mummy be?" and "my hungry". Ultimately, it was great that she was talking much more, although the mimicking of what we were saying did mean that we had to be much more careful with our language.
Anyway, we were back from our week-long holiday on the Saturday, and the Sunday saw a trip to the Heaton Moor Festival, scene of some Zumba action last year. Daisy and Aunty Katie took a trip on the Circular Express, destination: nowhere.
Next up: some bouncy castle action, although Daisy was a bit less stable on her feet than some of the bigger children, so sought out Aunty Katie for some bounce counselling.
Daisy regularly goes to Talking Tots on a Monday, and they did a turn with pom-poms at the festival. Daisy linked up with her friend Ellen...
...literally. Nice how Ellen's tights match with Daisy's dress.
Time for a sit down and some scran. Not for me, though, since I was on Daisy watching duty. (I did grab some curry later, so don't worry.)
And here is the Zumba you've all been waiting for, although with Daisy joining in it was not quite the full-on freneticism of Lynne's efforts the previous year. Nevertheless, it tired Daisy out, and I headed back with her for some egg mayo sandwich (one of her primary comfort foods).
Daisy soon perked up, though; sufficiently so to play drums with Aunty Katie. (Daisy no longer despises the drums and likes to have a go every so often, although it still does get a bit noisy for her.)
A week late, I captured a shot of breakfast time at our house, the girls having cereal from their bowls whilst watching TV (although Lynne is concentrating hard on the cereal).
Daisy is increasingly keen to join in with the gardening and, specifically, in the vegetable patch. At the end of June, the pea plants are in good health but the potato plants in the foreground on the left still with plenty of growth left (in fact, over the last three weeks, during the mini-heatwave, these potato plants have leapt up). One of Daisy's birthday presents from Aunty Katie (I think) was some gardening equipment, including a wheelbarrow and some (currently oversized, although a bit of that is the perspective of the shot) gardening gloves.
Later that day, I set up a little desk for Daisy, which was basically one of our coffee tables pushed up to the inflatable chair that Nana Sue got her. Having more or less mastered numbers 1 to 10, Lynne felt that Daisy was ready to move on to 1 to 20. It's a work in progress.
At lunchtime, I make the girls some tomato soup and garlic bread, which they took into. Daisy has now abandoned the high chair tray and is sat directly at the table. It's a bit of a gamble with soup, and indeed it goes everywhere, but she's growing up fast.
That evening, we take a trip to Frankie & Benny's as a treat, and an opportunity for me to carb-load before my Great Manchester Cycle. Daisy wasn't quite playing ball with the camera shot.
The following weekend, the Goggies are down to look after Daisy while Lynne and I go to a PwC Summer Ball in the new construction the Point at Old Trafford cricket ground. I can only presume that the grass is wet at this point in time, since that does not look like a comfortable position from which to play in the sandpit, the stocks of which we have substantially increased, you will notice.
Daisy getting in on some trampoline action. At this point, she could not quite get both feet in the air at the same time (although she has managed this achievement as I write, a fortnight later).
Elevenses on nice weekend mornings normally involves harvesting some peas from the vegetable patch and eating them. Daisy can get through a good 10-15 pods on a good day - she loves them.
Our director's chairs originally purchased for Glastonbury back in 2009 are still going strong, and Daisy managed to hop one of them to try them out. Looks comfortable enough.
Saturday lunchtime saw old family friends Uncle Peter and Aunty Louise pop over, on what was a glorious day.
Moving to the Sunday, and we had more guests - this time Uncle Matt & Aunty Nic, as well as Aunty Katie and Uncle Jordan (not pictured).
Daisy was quite good in wearing her hat, which is not always the case. Not sure what face she is trying to pull, though.
On this occasion, however, Matt felt more inclined to wear the hat, whether it fit him or now (it didn't).
I did a BBQ for everyone, as is obligatory in this weather (I should really have done one the previous day, but the Summer Ball kinda got in the way a bit). After we'd consumed our body weight in charred meat, Lynne dished out the Magnum ice-creams, which Daisy hilariously scavenged whilst she waited for her ice-cream to be ready. She would approach us all in turn and ask if it was nice, before (in my case, anyway), managing to bite off huge swathes of the chocolate coating with each attempt. Then, when she had her own ice-cream, she returned the favour by trying to feed us small pieces of swiftly melting ice-cream from her plastic spoon. In particular, she sat on Jordan and force-fed him this delicacy. Later on, she fell into the paddling pool and so her sodden dress and nappy were removed. There followed the sight of a naked two-year-old chasing grown adults round the lawn with a container of cold water, with the sole aim of getting them wet. Very funny.
And that's that. It doesn't quite bring you up to date, but it's quite an update nevertheless, so enough for you to be getting on with. This page is getting quite long now, but then it has covered quite a long period of time (plus I'm not great at leaving photos out). More soon!
I told somewhat of a falsehood. This update is anything but soon. It's been a mind-boggling four months since I last told updated this page. That is serious slippage. Although you have had a number of Aberfeldy updates in that time, so it's not all bad. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, back when it was warm (unlike now, when it has been hovering just above freezing).
We are now mid-July, on a scorching hot day at St Andrew's C of E primary school in Boothstown (where Katie, Matt and I were all schooled, and Katie now teaches), for the school fete. Katie's class (you can see the teacher over to the left, crouching down). Daisy felt the vibes and couldn't resist joining in, receiving much of the attention from where we watched. Got her hat on as well, good girl.
We headed indoors, to Katie's classroom, for some respite from the sun and for somewhere to eat the strawberries that we'd bought. Oh and a bit of colouring.
On the Sunday, I cycled to Blackpool (62 miles, or thereabouts) with Joe, meeting Lynne & Daisy there, but no photos from that as there was no beach (stupid tide). But, on the Monday it was Lynne's birthday, so I took the day off work and we headed to the beach at Lytham St Annes. Having been so glorious over the weekend, it was cloudy with occasional drizzle, but it was still a pleasant experience. We proceeded with the usual beach-based antics, i.e. burying feet in the sand.
Meanwhile, the birthday girl had a go in one of the dodgems. (Not really - I think she was just posing.)
At the end of the pier on a grey day, Daisy stood, looking very small.
We had a game of air hockey while Lynne wandered round the shops. Daisy's first game of air hockey ever in fact.
Of course, she got to go on the rides too. Provided she isn't too scared by these things, the next problem to overcome is getting her back off them.
Back on the beach, Daisy and I wandered over to what, for Daisy, was inflatable heaven. I paid a modest sum for a strangely arbitrary period (8 minutes or something); however, Daisy didn't want to leave when her time was up. The netting you can see was all the way round so it was quite difficult to get her out and, when I did, she made a bit of a scene, lying full length in the sand in a big sulk. I put her in a fireman's lift because I had a long way to carry her across the sand to the car (where we were meeting Lynne) and eventually she came round and apologised.
A week later and it was time for a trip to Tesco for which we both had our shopping trolleys. I presume I was getting grub for a BBQ the next day.
As Lynne was at a spa with Suze, I invited Nana Sue and Aunty Katie round for company (or sharing in the Daisy-watching). Katie has made the slightly unwise decision to lend Daisy her glasses - do not do that if you want them to remain in one piece.
Now it's time for a bit of Row Your Boat action.
Daisy gets a bit carried away when attending to Katie's hair.
The next day we had a BBQ, with Liam and Kath bringing round Adam and Rachel (pictured here in Daisy's shelter - this was the best I could do as they would not all smile at the same time). Eddie & Doylie were also round.
Later on, the kids settled down for an episode of the classic Fraggle Rock.
The following weekend it was round to Vicky and Paul's for a spot of wrestling...
...and pizza-making action, a long-awaited reprise of birthday pizza making which we missed because (I think) we were on holiday in Scotland. Daisy likes to join in so she loved this.
It's time for the fun mozzarella-sprinkling stage, with pre-grated cheese supplied by Vicky.
Daisy's policy was that for each item added to the pizza, she got to nibble at one of those items. That's not the typical shape of pizza but that's the beauty of home cooking.
Daisy later pointed out different bits of the cut-up pizza to Vicky. Inevitably, after all that pizza making, she wasn't that bothered about eating it all (perhaps it was all the snacking).
This is Daisy's favourite (i.e. cannot leave her side) Hello Kitty soft toy (of which we have a spare as the consequences of it not being around are too awful to think about - for example, an incident where Lynne thought it had been lost but it was actually in a bag in the car prompted much emotion). Here, I make it look a bit freaky by giving it some human eyes and glasses.
In early August, we started potty training Daisy. It went quite smoothly, partly thanks to chocolate treat motivation tactics, as there were relatively few accidents (number twos were a temporary difficulty but eventually she relented and, lo, we rejoiced).
It was round about now that we visited the Barlows' residence for the annual game-a-thon. Here is a shot of a thoughtful looking Daisy posing for Uncle Matt. More of this day can be seen here.
The ultimate in laid-back telly watching positions. Thumb in mouth. Check. Hello Kitty toy. Check. Also featured, the bunny toy and her little blanket. This is from mid-August.
Daisy was keen to help out in the back garden (I plan to increasingly utilise this fact over time) and here she is watering the tomato plants...
...and collecting the King Edward potatoes.
And that's quite a lot for now. This page is getting very long indeed, but hey it's covering a long period.
Ok, we're on the home stretch now. Stick with me. Later in August, I popped round to see Nana Sue and Aunty Katie with Daisy. Needless to say, Nana Sue had bought Daisy a treat: a magazine.
Despite being made a nice lunch by Nana Sue, Daisy was far more interested in playing Sylvanian Families, which reside here as a way of helping to persuade Daisy to come and visit.
Later, Aunty Katie read Daisy a story.
The weather was pleasant enough for outdoor activities, such as badminton. Katie hilariously tried to dislodge an errant shuttlecock my throwing cups of water. Eventually we got it down with a combination of a hosepipe and a long stick.
Nana Sue wouldn't have been amused except that she was busy making a mess of Katie's old room with Daisy.
Daisy was more of a hindrance than a help with the jigsaw, thus proving that the entropy of an isolated system never decreases. In other words, it's easier to make a mess than to create order. Or something.
Daisy was happy to spend her time feeding the cat (not a real one) with cat food (real). This cat was later (in November) named Julian by Daisy, for reasons not known.
The exertions were all too much. For many, this would be a seat; for Daisy, a small bed. Katie told Daisy that she could have this as her bed and she (Katie) could have her bed upstairs, to which she said "agreed!", a phrase I hadn't heard her use before, but showed keen negotiation skills, something that would become apparent when she was older.
But this is much more comfortable, and has the added advantage of being within range of the TV. Notice the presence of the usual comforts: thumb, Hello Kitty and Bunny.
The next day of the bank holiday weekend we went to the Stockport Plaza to watch a Postman Pat live show. Daisy had a great time. Me, less so. It's clearly not aimed at me, but it would have helped had they not simply repeated two songs throughout the show.
Daisy is currently operating under the impression that my PS3 controller is a camera. Daisy, it's not, although that may be a glimpse of the future.
The cherry tomato crop is going strong, although it's hard to count how many have been harvested as Daisy is forever grazing. Healthy diet, though.
Another week, another trip to the supermarket (Asda this time), with Daisy giving her dolly a bit of a walkaround.
With holidays to use up and Lynne not feeling great, I took the first Monday of September off and, for want of a better idea, went round to Waterdale again. It seems like Daisy had made a bit more of an effort with her hair and outfit today, despite it being just a Monday. I think we had a chippy lunch.
Three generations retired to the living room for some lounging.
Early in September and the weather was still pleasant enough to go outside short-sleeved. Daisy adopts an interesting pose. Her dress matches her shoes, which is excellent but probably unplanned coordination.
And that is that. The six months have whizzed by, and Daisy has come on leaps and bounds (which I will talk about on the next page). She is becoming a proper little girl as she passes two and a half years old.