Megan is now ten and a half months old! Megan's been to lots of exciting events this fortnight, including three parties, a Thomas the Tank Engine day at the Scottish Railway Preservation Society, and her first Gymbabes class (with Tumbletots).

This fortnight was marked by a party every weekend - Samara's third birthday party on the first Saturday; Josh and Mel, and Jordan, Natalie and Samara's Farewell Party on the middle Sunday (they went home to Australia two days later; we're very sad to see them go); and Grandma's 60th birthday party on the last Saturday. So she's all partied out!

Megan went to her first ever Gymbabes class on August 17th, where she managed to impress all of us with her climbing skills and how quickly she was able to pick up new moves. She's becoming increasingly adept at climbing up, but has yet to show any interest in learning to come down again! She didn't like going over the rollers (three cylinders in size order: large, medium and small) on her tummy very much though (this is a precursor to teaching her how to do a forward roll), but didn't mind when we sat her on the first roller and went over them like that.

Megan also went on a boat, a pedallo, for the very first time on the Callendar Park boating pond. She didn't mind the lifejacket, loved the sensation of floating on the water, and was especially fascinated by watching the way the sunshine sparkled on the water.

She's also enjoyed having several friends over to play, and a trip to Edinburgh on the train to meet Daddy after work. The real highlight of a busy fortnight was meeting lots of family who came to Grandma and Grandpa's house to celebrate Grandma's 60th birthday.

The only downside was that Megan has had a bit of a cold, which turned out to be the precursor of another ear infection. A course of antibiotics soon cleared this up however, and she was right as rain within 24 hours of starting them.

Megan is becoming increasingly adventurous these days, and she's always off exploring new places - her favourite activity is pulling the books off the bookcase! Another fun activity is to go into Mummy's bag (located at the bottom of the stairs and containing nappy change gear), take a nappy, and then crawl upstairs to the change table, whenever she's decided she wants a clean nappy! It's very cute.

She's also starting to want to play with Aidan - sometimes to destroy what he's been so painstakingly working on, sometimes to try to copy whatever he's doing, and sometimes to admire him. He greets this interest with varying degrees of acceptance - from pushing her away and getting upset because she's broken something, to ignoring her, and right on to playing with her - a favourite game being chasing her (or is that her chasing him?) around Grandma and Grandpa's house, which has a convenient circuit on the ground floor. He runs round, while she crawls at top speed after him. As he's faster than she is, he soon comes round and is chasing her for a while, until he overtakes...

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Image 0058-1984 Canon PowerShot S45 1/499 sec., f/2.8 2006:08:12 09:41:03 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Why am I wearing such a silly hat, Mummy? This was taken in the park, at Samara's third birthday party.

Watching the sparkling water. In a pedal boat, on Callendar Park boating pond.

Image 0058-2016 Canon PowerShot S45 1/799 sec., f/2.8 2006:08:19 13:06:30 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Image 0058-2020 Canon PowerShot S45 1/799 sec., f/2.8 2006:08:19 13:07:30 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Me and my Daddy.

Helping Grandma blow the candles out.

Image 0058-2023 Canon PowerShot S45 1/2 sec., f/2.8 2006:08:26 18:57:46 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn