Happy New Year

This New Year's eve Aunty Pink wasn't feeling too well so we all went round to her house to help her see in the New Year. Even though Aunty Pink was sick it was nice of her to dress up for the occasion.

After having a couple of glasses of sherry everyone wanted a quiet lie down the next day. Poor old Barney needed to keep half an eye open for his tiny tormentor though.

Lucy sees Great Grandad

Lucy pops over to see Great Grandad Don and share some Christmas good cheer.

First Trip to the Local Pub

After we returned from our Northern adventure, our top mate Si came down to visit from ooop Lincolnshire. We decided to take the Spork for her first visit to our local Pub.

Mummy taught Lucy how to clap.

Daddy tried some "baby on the head" cuteness to impress the locals.

Palmer Mansions

Most of Lucy's Christmas in Hull has been spent, quite naturally, with Daddies family. But Daddies best friend Matt (see here and here) also hails from Hull and his folks still live there. So it would be rude not to visit Clan Palmer even though Matt not back in Hull this Christmas. Dr John looks slightly surprised by Lucy's arrival.

Diana gets in on the Lucy action.

Then is was Alex's turn for a go with the Sprockmeister. He has certainly improved his baby handling technique since his last effort with Lucy.

Finally Dr John says goodbye once Lucy has been wrapped up for her return trip.

Uncle Col

Sprock gets pointy with Uncle Col

Old MacDonald

We went out for Boxing Day lunch with the family. The Spoink was having a lovely time playing with one of her presents, an Old MacDonald glove.

It didn't take too long to wear her out though. She curled up for a sleep on Grandmas shawl.

Mummy doesn't just have a big hand. This is the Old MacDonald puppet in all it's glory. Lucy loves it. Elizabeth looks on approvingly.

Sprout

Judging by her expression, Lucy seems to be eating something of exquisite taste. What delicacy could that be this Christmas time?

Ta Da! Sprout!

Strawberry

Aunty Sue and Uncky Kev bought the Sprock a hat that makes her head look like a Strawberry.

It's great.

Heavy Wine

Grandma and Lucy are enjoying a nice chat on Christmas eve. Grandma looks thirsty.

But unfortunately Grandma cannot quite manage to lift her wine glass all the way to her mouth so Lucy gives her a bit of assistance. ;-)

Elton Sprock

Grandma looks on proudly as Lucy ownz the place with her piano skillz.

"While the other kids were Rocking Round the Clock
we were hopping and bopping to the Crocodile Sprock"

Aunty Tiss - the children's entertainer

So we arrived in Hull for Lucy's first Christmas and also her first trip to the enchanted and sacred land of East Yorkshire. It was also her 3rd tree in 3 days. Aunty Pinks was the biggest but Grandma and Grandad came in second.

Famously Aunty Tiss says she is not very good with babies and normally claims that she will have nothing to do with them until they are around fourteen. This is an exaggeration of course and she has played with Lucy before - but things have moved onto a new level! Tiss has purchased some furry slippers just so that Lucy can play with them (Lucy loves normal shoes but we don't let her play with them for obvious sanitary considerations).

She can also be seen quite clearly here interacting with hands as well as feet.

And frankly this picture shows that Aunty Tiss has gone the whole hog and become firm pals with her little niece.

Pink's Got a Big One

After Lucy learned yesterday that Christmas Trees should be about 3 feet tall, we went to visit Uncle Stewby and Aunty Pink. Their tree was somewhat bigger being over six foot tall and about the same wide.

Lucy was suitably impressed by it's size.

She then proceeded to check out Aunty Pinks' collection of reindeer's and (fake) Santa's.

Christmas Tree

Last year we discovered that Lucy's feline brothers were incompatible with standard Christmas Trees. You can see the details by clicking here. So this year we thought we should go with a more modest effort in the hope that Barney and Boo would leave it alone this time.

Once the room lights were dimmed and the tree lights were turned on, Lucy was enchanted by her first Christmas tree.

Whilst Lucy loves the tree we are not convinced that the cats are ignoring it. And of course who other than Boo would be the culprit we would catch.

Emormous Feet

A bi-product of Lucy learning to sit up on her own is that her gargantuan feet are rather more obvious.

Reading Books

Being progressive parents we are obviously encouraging Lucy to read. Not least because of the influence of her Aunty Chris.

But perhaps sometimes reading has to wait while a book has a good sucking.

Lucy Sits for the First Time

Lucy has been sitting up for a few weeks now but she has always needed a little hand to prevent her keeling over. But today for the first time she is sitting perfectly happily unsupported. Daddy was a bit cautious at first which is why she is surrounded by a big ring of soft toys for in case she does lose her balance.

But silly old Daddy needn't have worried. As you can see here she is perfectly capable of sitting unsupported whilst eating Plopp Bear and shaking her maracas.

That's not to say she won't tumble over every now an again. But she can roll like the most seasoned stunt baby. And even if there is a problem she can always phone for help.

A Grand Day Out in Ripley

Lynne and Al arranged for a bunch of buddies to meet up for a pre Christmas lunch at The Talbot in Ripley. Daddy cannot praise the place (and specifically it's Sunday Lunch) enough but even though she was sitting at the head of the table, Lucy initially seemed a bit cool on the place.

Lightning Tom, Al and Lynne start off with a pint.

Mummy and Laura are both driving but we are taunting them with fine red wine.

Lucy is starting to warm to the place.

Especially when she gets a nice Huggle from Mummy.

Later on we adjourn to Frog Cottage, Al and Lynne's house.

Al lets Lucy have a go on one of his smaller guitars. I think it is pretty clear that she is going to be an awesome guitarist given the way she is fretting that F with her thumb. Just need to wait about 12 years until her fingers are long enough to finish the barre chord.

But in preparation Al serenades Lucy and at the same time gives her a first guitar lesson.

Get your strength up

Marcus cooked Mummy and Daddy a fine meal of Lasagne. But the Sprocket needs fuel as well so while Holly takes it easy on Marcus, Mummy gives Lucy a good feed.

As soon as Lucy is fueled up she is playing with all of Holly's toys. A favorite being this strange instrument. Daddy has spent twenty years trying to understand differenet types of technology but cannot make head nor take of this beast. However, Lucy seems to know just how it works. Or at least how to make it make the most amount of noise!

Grand Prix Chair

Lucy has pretty much grown out of her BumBoo seat now so she has switched to her high chair for feeding duties. Unfortunately the seat is quite slippy so she slides quite a long way down before the harness stops her. In fact it is kind of like she is sitting in a racing car.

Clearly emulating Lewis Hamilton is not a problem for the Sprockmeister.

Another successful feeding at the Zoo. And as luck would have it a small amount of the food even went down her throat rather than down her face and clothes!