8 months on and I still haven't learnt...

So the arrival of autumn has brought a load of changes for Mabel too as she comes up to 8 months old. A couple of weeks ago she learnt to pull herself up to standing and now does so pretty much as often as possible. She climbs on to or out of pretty much anything, even using other babies' heads to vault herself upright - I really wish she wouldn't.

Her babbling is becoming more coherent and dada is being used a lot - though I keep telling G Kisby that she doesn't know what it means (whilst whispering Mama to her continually).

Her understanding of cause and effect is also coming on well, dropping a toy from her high chair to get a reaction is just a joy (sarcasm sensed correctly).

Crawling is a skill not yet mastered (thank God) but she is getting much closer by the day.

And teeth are causing her some major issues at the moment but despite that she is great fun.

What isn't fun is my persistant inability to manage the basics. Poo gate happened again this week...it happened 'a-flamin-gain'.

And I double bagged. I used a swim nappy and even put a towel under her just incase. I thought I had covered all bases, so to speak.

I even waited, heard the straining, watched and nothing came out. I come out of the bathroom and there it is. The towel had bunched up with the jumping, it was stuck to the sole, it was on the carpet, AGAIN.

This time I put her in the sink. She was so bemused at this decision that she actually sat still which was handy since she only just fit. After looking around in amusement she decided to try and eat the tap, fair enough.

That's it now, I thought, no more bouncer time. I even considered giving it away but then felt harsh since it isn't really her fault that bouncing causes bowel movement. Maybe they should have adult bouncers in the back of pharmacies, no need for constipation tablets, just come for a bounce. Prunes? Just head to the park...

When will I learn? Imagine if we had claimed on the insurance the first time and now had to call up,
"Er, yeah, I realise it sounds unlikely / unlucky but we were taking a korma up to our bedroom (again) and a large bird flew in the window and whoop..."