Georgina's Blog: My baby…

No longer am I a mum of a baby – my little girl is now two and officially a toddler. The back chat has started already - ask her a question and she will answer ‘no’ automatically. ‘Do you want some breakfast Saskia?’ I ask in the morning. ‘Noooo,’ she says definitely. Sometimes I get ‘no, no, no, no…yes’ which reminds me of the old bloke in the Vicar of Dibley who has an unfortunate stammer.

And the tantrums have started…I haven’t had a full on lying on the floor screamer as yet, I’m waiting for that. It’s usually over porter (this is water by the way in Saskia speak) which she wants put into an empty water bottle, so she can pour it from one vessel into another, usually spilling most of it on the carpet and herself. This is her latest obsession and if I say no when I can’t face the clearing up, then I get the head back, big fat tears and gulping sobs. I find it so hard to stick to my guns sometimes and I keep having to tell myself that I’m the adult, and I’m in control. And I must be consistent with my rules. It sounds so easy when you read it in the parenting books or magazines but when you are confronted with a living, breathing small upset person whose only desire is a bottle of water, it’s a tough call.

Luckily her water obsession has been partially met by her birthday present – Alex and I bought her a little kitchen and it not only has a ring that makes sizzling noises if you put the frying pan on to it and a kettle that bubbles and whistles but it also has a little sink and tap. We’ve never had so many ‘cups of tea’ in this house. Not to mention whole chickens, fried eggs and some dubious brown thing, that I think is meat. All plastic of course. ‘Yum, yum’, as Saskia would say!

Georgina Maric, mum to Saskia, aged 2