Spent 40 minutes cycling to the nursery and back again in the middle of the day to give Ingrid her midday penicillin, because the nursery staff said their policies didn’t allow them to take responsibility for children’s medicines – only to find out that they had changed their minds and were OK with giving it to her after all. Couldn’t they have called me?

The day went by fast even though I didn’t do anything much – and sometimes that’s exactly what I need. We spent most of the day at Kew Gardens at a SlingMeet, where Ingrid behaved like a model of a sling baby: happy to sit in the sling while awake, then playing on the floor, finally falling asleep almost the moment I put her in the wrap.

She seems to be well again now, only more drowsy than normal. I must admit I almost liked it this way.

Ingrid is sick again, with lots of nighttime coughing for two nights now, and this evening/night also a fever. I’ve also caught something, but it seems to be a simple cold. Eric is, as far as I know, still well.

Thanks to a tip from Liina, we went to the children’s song and dance session at London’s Estonian House. We met a bunch of Estonian mums with their children, and sang children’s songs, and I met the cranky monkeys who were quite uncranky in real life. In fact Ingrid was more cranky because she was really tired, but she enjoyed being there nevertheless and liked seeing the other children. I think we’ll be doing this again next time (in a month’s time).

Ingrid has been restless and bored during afternoons these last few days so we have gone for walks. Some of the walks took us (me) shopping. It turns out that Ingrid likes shopping: new places to see, and (more importantly) lots of not-so-busy shop assistants who are happy to smile and talk baby language to her. So I’ve explored some local shops and found a nice jacket yesterday, and a dress and a pair of trousers today. I actually enjoyed the shopping experience a little bit because of the total lack of crowds in this part of town at 5 o’clock on a weekday afternoon.

Focussing on work early in the morning and in the evening after she’s asleep, both yesterday and today, to get at least some work done this week. Nowhere near a full day, of course, but a good four to five hours both days. Not bad.

Ingrid was much better today, back to her normal self really. Unfortunately she’s still got a few blisters that haven’t scabbed over so we are both staying home tomorrow as well.

Oh, and we enjoyed some fresh pineapple today. First time for her – so many foods are a first for her!

Today was much the same as yesterday, which was not very different from the day before. The night was a bit better, though – I was only awake for 2 hours instead of 4. Thank god for the magic boobs which console even the most miserable feverish babe.

Yesterday’s lack of fuss just lulled us all into a false sense of security. Today Ingrid had lots more spots, proper fever, her worst night ever, and all the other stuff that goes with serious illness.

Among the good news, she didn’t mind sitting in the pushchair and was in fact happier there than in the baby carrier. Less warm and itchy, maybe? She even leaned back and rested in the pushchair and finally fell asleep for a while – I cannot even remember the last time she did that. Must be months ago.

A clear sign of sickness: she just sat in the bathtub instead of crawling around, and by the end of her bath time some of the bottles were still standing on the ledge. I think she liked being in the bath, though.

Ingrid was sent home from the nursery about an hour after getting there, because she turned out to have chickenpox. She had no spots when I changed her in the morning, and lots of spots just 2 hours later. Luckily she doesn’t seem to be bothered by this at all – a bit less energetic than usual, but generally happy.

Everything just seems to have gone right. She slept until 7, was happy during the morning, and didn’t even complain much when I left for work.

When I picked her up at the nursery, they said she had eaten well, slept well and been happy. Often they say she starts crying just about when it’s time for me to arrive but today she was still in a good mood when I got there. She didn’t immediately go into a need-breast-now panic when we got home, so I could change out of work clothes without a rush.

After she had eaten she played with me in the armchair. Then she climbed down and played on her own for a while. She didn’t complain when I lay her down on her back to get her dirty nappy off for her bath, nor when I got her out of her bath, or when brushing her teeth, or when putting a new nappy on, or when going to bed. We breastfed again, she let go of the breast, turned on her tummy and went to sleep within 2 minutes.

Contented little baby, indeed!