Daisy Suzanne Allen

Born Sunday 6th March 2011

4½ to 4¾ years old

Her life:  4 to 4¼ years ♥ 4¼ to 4½ years ♥ 4½ to 4¾ years ♥ 4¾ to 5 years ♥ 5th birthday ♥ 5 to 5½ years ♥ 5½ to 6 years ♥ 6th birthday ♥ 6 to 6½ years ♥ 6½ to 7 years ♥ 7th birthday ♥ 7 to 7½ years ♥ 7½ to 8 years ♥ 8th birthday ♥ 8 to 8½ years ♥ 8½ to 9 years ♥ 9th birthday

In summary:  Index ♥ From birth to four years old ♥ Four years old to nine years old ♥ Nine years old onwards

Special features:  Golden Bear (reprise) ♥ More cookery

This is a pretty immersive way of playing snakes and ladders (a Peppa Pig themed version which was a present from Uncle Matt a while ago).  Daisy led the way and her younger brother was only too happy to follow.

As summer slowly draws to a close (this is from mid-September), the vegetable patch looks in a rather sorry state, in dire need of some care and attention.  I had not really had much chance to provide this due to a combination of being holiday, suffering from illness and unpleasant weekend weather.  I finally managed to get out there and brought along reinforcements to help me dig up the potatoes.

Daisy was very pleased to receive Oscar from school.  This was the first time he came home.  It sort of rotates round the class pupils, linked each time to a particular piece of good behaviour.

Whilst summer might be running out, it's still (cherry) T-shirt weather.

In late September, cousin Alison was over from Australia with Jeff and Thomas, so we all convened in Lyme Park.  After a bit of playing in the adventure park, and some general running around, we had a mini-picnic, supplied by Aunty Judy.  Daisy soon grabbed a biscuit and escaped to another table.

Uncle Jim was the coordinator of the youngsters: Thomas, Daisy and Lily.

Moving into October, some TV shows have them both dancing to the theme tune - they do like to groove.

A trip to the park means Daisy on the obstacle course, some elements of which suit her (like this one) more than others.  She's wearing her thumbsie but I suspect we're getting to the point where she became less inclined to wear it.  We're going to have to use another method to try to discourage her sucking her thumb, which remains prevalent.  When do we play the nuclear option (the nasty tasting nail polish)?

Broadstone Hall primary school has a Twitter account and, together with many of the teachers and assistants, they have a policy of regularly posting pictures of the children on Twitter, giving an insight into what they get up to at school.  All very modern.  Naturally, the parents then follow those accounts and this was a picture that popped up on my timeline. 

This is one of Lynne's photos, and what I like about it is the state of action that all of the children are in (Charlie Roberts, a regular on the school walk, joins the cheeky twosome).

It's mid-October and Autumn is well and truly upon us, particularly illustrated by the volume of leaves, which NEVER SEEM TO END (until they suddenly do).  The children, though, are keen to help me with this seemingly futile task.

Somewhat out of the blue, we decided to get Daisy a bike from the nearby Halfords.  As you can see, this one's got stabilisers.  Daisy has, at this point, just learned to pedal back and forth along the back patio.  She soon moved on to cycling to the nearby park, although struggled with anything remotely resembling a slope.  Not long after this photo, I fitted a bell to the handlebar, thus enabling Daisy to warn people of her being in the vicinity.

Every so often, Daisy persuades me to put the Wii on for her, and specifically Wii Fit.  However, every time she gets increasingly frustrated about the games that don't quite work for her (such as hula hooping, as pictured) as well as her lower positions on the leaderboards.  (What can I say?  It pre-dates Daisy, I think, and it's not like I would deliberately get bad scores on the off chance that this would bother her some years later.)  Gregory, meanwhile, watches on, unable to participate yet.  I'm looking forward to the days that they can both compete (but not necessarily beat me!).

The whiteboard in the kitchen (which has the chalkboard on the flipside) is a good height for the two of them to maximise the space available.  Gregory has a good pen grip for his age, and is getting better by the month, but he is still more or less restricted to squiggles and swirls.

This is a picture set that Lynne put together, mostly from our summer visit to Haddington.  I think it was a present for Avis.

The next weekend saw a trip to Hale for Evie and Ellie's 5th birthday party, emphasising just how much time flies.  Here they were seemingly be told to run backwards and forwards.  The large open space is a must for any children's party, though.

The aimless running soon gave way to a bit of pom-pom cheerleading.  I think this photo was taken by Suze.

After all the frenetic action, which later included some limbo dancing if I recall (all the while, we anxiously watched England run out of light and thus also time to snatch a surprise victory in the Test match against Pakistan in the UAE), there was a novel way for all the children to collect some prizes, which was in the form of going fishing.  Daisy waited patiently near the back for her go.

I think Daisy was over-emphasising here just how much the temperature had dropped in October.  She also seems to have non-matching gloves.

Daisy was very chuffed one morning when I made her a fruit salad for breakfast.

Here is another picture taken from the Broadstone Hall school (and friends) Twitter feed, which shows Daisy playing hockey with a strange grip (similar to her golfing grip).

Daisy brought home this writing certificate from school, showing that she was developing well, for the cryptic sounding "excellent sound talk to write words".  She was at this point starting to be able to read shorter words.

Around the same time, she was regularly logging into Mathletics, the login for which was provided by her school.  Completing enough exercises in a week earned you sufficient points to qualify for a Bronze certificate.  I crudely replicated the certificate that was awarded on screen, to be printed out for Daisy's benefit.  She added in some extras, as you can see (all I wrote was "Daddy" - she did the rest).  Latterly, she has moved on to Reading Eggs, which mirrors her increasing desire (and ability) to read.

After breaking for half-term, Lynne headed up to Haddington to look after Becky while her little sister, Jessica, was born in circumstances which I will not describe here (partly because I have willingly avoided all of the details) other than to note that it was a home birth.  However, as I was at work, she took the two young rascals with her, so quite a handful given that their Grandma and Granddad were away at the time.  The morning scene below was posted by Lynne in a rare excursion onto Facebook.

Of course, looking after them is made a little easier by access to tablets.  That is not to say that it is a cakewalk - it most assuredly was not, particularly when Daisy picked up an infection which made it difficult for her to talk or swallow.  That accelerated the return home...

...but not before they had seen their new cousin, young Jessica Jane, who happily slept through this particular experience.

Proud Aunty Lynne got a deserved hold, joined by Gregory (looking furtive) and Daisy (looking miserable) for a photo pose.

Here is a picture of Daisy playing on Mathletics (I say "playing", but I mean "learning").  After doing many of the more basic tasks, she even got going on doing counting with tens and units, with me giving a little bit of guidance on pen and paper.

I can only assume that they had a Terminator themed day at school.

We were unable to take Daisy to the nearby Hinds Head fireworks display on Bonfire Night itself as we were out in town watching Alan Carr at the Apollo so, on the Saturday, Daisy and I scooted over to Poynton for the fireworks display there.  As we waited around for the heated metal action, we got some food, I succumbed to spending a fiver on some lighting up toy or other, and we watched the first of a series of live bands (in the van behind - we didn't see the others as they were on later than we were prepared to stay).

We also stood by the large bonfire, which Daisy appreciated.  I may put some other photos of the night on another page at some point.

Now if only most teas could be like this, with us sitting back while Daisy feeds Gregory.  (This was taken by Lynne in my absence.)  In reality, it's much more of a battle than that.  Unless they're really hungry.

Mid-November meant a onesie day at school (me neither), in which Daisy was only to happy to partake.  Particularly if that onesie features Disney princesses.

This is Daisy enjoying Reading Eggs which, as noted above, is her favourite learning-on-the-computer pastime.  She has rushed past level 30 in a month or two.

Mid-November saw a trip to Sale for Jude's 4th birthday party.  Daisy was quick to seek out the drawing table, where Lynne joined her.

Here is Daisy posing sweetly with Jude on the steps of the stage.

She's looking a bit more displeased here, as Gregory is unable to get to the front of stage and so sits patiently behind Daisy.

Daisy is the coolest cat in town.

This is memorable only for the fact that it was my first ever ponytail (both worn or created).  Lynne had spent the day and night at a spa hotel.  As I was about to take Daisy (and Gregory as a fellow spectator) to her swimming lesson, she requested said hairstyle, so I gave it a go thusly.  It wasn't a bad effort, I didn't think, but I was rather dismayed to see Daisy pull it out before we actually left.  I haven't done one since.

Later that day, with Lynne now present, we headed to Joel's birthday party, which feature all creatures great and small.  Here is Daisy about to hold a chameleon or something like that.  Lynne got some better pictures than this so I should put some of those on here soon.

And finally (in March the next year), I have located the additional photos.  Here she is tentatively touching some kind of reptile.

She seems pretty comfortable with this gigantic shelled slug thing.

This little lizard is clinging to her arm, probably wondering what the hell is going on.

And finally from our strange creatures feature, Daisy holding a huge millipede.  So, after being a bit reticent at first she was one of the keenest creature holders of all the kids there.

We'll finish with a classic TV watching pose from Daisy, imitated by Gregory.  (Unfortunately, they seem to be watching Teletubbies - no idea why that is back on our screens.)

Having got Oscar at the start of this page, I am delighted to announce that she again got Oscar, who has at least changed for the occasion.

As per Oscar's diary, she got Oscar for "brilliant reading".  Daisy drew the picture and wrote the entry, featuring the classic line "I came to the doctors on the wrong day" (Ok, she says "I caim to the docktors on the wrog day", but that's still a brilliant effort), a reference to Lynne getting her days muddled up.  Kids, they never forget, eh?

We'll draw this to a close in advance of the Christmas period (although I am writing this during the following spring), with Daisy unable to open her eyes during a visit with Santa Claus (who possesses evil red eyes - I knew it).

Decision time: on to the next page or back to the Secret Portal.