Every day can be a learning day and today I something new about myself. I am really good at catching socks with my left hand. No really. So good.

I discovered this hidden, and generally kind of useless, talent as I was making dinner this evening. Wee Daftie was sat in her usual spot on the counter as I stirred the pot. (literally, not figuratively) She casually pulled each sock off and cried, “Cassh!” before flinging them at me. Without even thinking about it, I stretched out my left, as the right was still stirring, and deftly caught the incoming cotton missile.

Every. Time. I impressed myself.

Now, one could argue that catching socks that a toddler has flung may not be too tricky but if you’ve ever played ball with a Small Human, you’ll know what they lack in direction and aim they make up for in loudness and enthusiasm. Now add socks into the equation. See? Impressive!

Wee Daftie’s photoshoot for her tell all book. “Booblees, Books and Buses. The Three Bs that Changed My Life”.

This morning was another lovely cuddly and book reading kind of day. We had a walk and a playdate planned for the afternoon so we were able to enjoy books and Wee Daftie climbing up and down on the step out to the balcony.

We didn’t actually go out onto the balcony as she really likes just stepping “Uppa down. Uppa down”. Honestly, I am quite glad we don’t live in a house with storeys as I would probably spend my days chasing her uppa down.

When things go quiet, you can find a Wee Daftie in a homemade nest of things.

We got our steps done today thanks to uppa down and walking across the city, to and from my friend’s house.

It was a lovely afternoon. So far, all our littlies like playing with each other. Though some days, like today, Wee Daftie can spend more time walking about ignoring everyone. She was really in the zone for walking through the door between my friend’s living room and hall, closing it behind her. Such a weirdo. Wouldn’t change her for anything though. Oddness and all.

As well as stairs, Wee Daftie is all about pressing buttons at the moment. Including the camera button on my phone. Usually, she just takes photos of her feet, the sofa or up her nose but this was today’s effort. Not bad, Wee Daftie. You’re no Annie Leibowitz but not too shabby.

Sometimes being mildly inconvenienced can be a blessing in disguise.

After our lovely but pretty exhausting day yesterday, I wasn’t feeling the most energetic this morning. I felt well but also that horizontal was the preferable position of the day. Luckily for my lazy bones, my Big Human had a work related package being delivered but very few details as to when it might arrive so we were a bit house bound for the morning. Which suited me and my girl very nicely this morning. We did some chores, read lots of books, had plenty of snuggles and made my world famous gold soup (no, not because it has 24 carrots in it) before the package arrived, just in time for lunch.

One of our achievements this morning. Wee Daftie managed to put one boot on all by herself. It was on the wrong foot and she didn’t want to put the other one on but it’s still. She tried.

After our lazy morning, we definitely needed some fresh air so bundled up and went for a walk after her nap, before dinner. The wind was wild again today. Milder than previous days but really strong. I had entertained the idea of heading down the pier again but the wind at its highest nearly knocked me on my arse not long after we left the flat so I figured being at height beside water wasn’t ideal.

So we did a big loop instead. Technically two loops. The second loop was to circle our building before heading inside, just to boost the steps for the day.

I still had some steps to finish off after dinner but our hourlong loop racked up a huge number, which was excellent.

My favourite things about Wee Daftie’s Toddlerdom are also my least favourite things. Stealing food is adorable but, y’know, also theft.

She’s definitely a smart little cookie, which is fantastic, but this has its downside too. Take today, for example. She was sitting on the kitchen counter as I made dinner. I had one hand on her and then other stirring the veg. She has both her hands in the fruit bowl.

She had a mum (plum) in one hand and an arrnge (orange) in the other. I pointed out that she’d already had a plum today so she had to put it back. Which she did. Lovely. She then started putting the orange to her mouth. When I said no, not before dinner, she just giggled and drew it away from lips and then back up again. And again. And again. Looking me dead in the eye, daring me to challenge her.

So when I, calmly, asked her to put it back she giggled again and took a bit of the skin, knowing I would then peel the orange. Cheeky little manipulative clever Dafite.

Part of me was very proud.

Another day, another pilfered smoothie. While pondering the meaning of life. (Booblees!)

Steps achieved, despite of some excellent laziness in the morning, a tired Mammy and a con-artist Daftie.

Well. I said we had a Big Day Out planned for today and we certainly managed to pull it off.

Historically, Numbnuts and I are really rubbish at two things.

1) decisions.

2) plans.

We’re both pretty decent at a lot of things but most of our outings tend to be pl’s, rather than fully formed plans.

Today’s pla started with meeting at the Balmoral at 9:30 and taking it from there.

Isn’t Stirling pretty?

One of my favourite things in the world are train journeys. If the train is an option, I will happily take the train. I don’t really know what it is about travelling by train that I like so much but it’s one of those things I want to share with Wee Daftie.

One of the deciding factors on where to go today was whether or not we could get there by train so we basically flipped a coin and headed to the station to find the train to Stirling.

True happiness. A Daftie, her Official Unofficial Auntie and train tickets.

The stamina of Wee Daftie is outstanding. Honestly, when she is on form, there is no stopping her. Today was no exception. The thing that was – is – so surprising is how much she likes stairs. Genuinely. I know we are in the business of walking 10,000 steps a day at the moment but I think she’s taking it too literally. I don’t think there was a step in Stirling Castle that we didn’t walk up or down.

One of the many pauses to check out the fantastic views.

The weather was perfect for walking and sightseeing. Blue sky, warm sun, bright and crisp air. The surrounding mountains were touched with snow, the green of the fields was fresh and the river was still. Truly a sight to behold.

Daftie in a cubby, just one of the modern renovations of the Castle.

We stopped for a hearty lunch at the cafe before climbing the steps all over the half of the castle we still had to explore. I don’t care how much walking we have done recently, I guarantee my calves will definitely feel it tomorrow. May as well have spent the afternoon on a stair master.

The coolest kid in town. And her toddler.

It was such a fun day and another really fun way to get our steps done.

Short and sweet day today in preparation for a Big Day Out with Auntie Numbnuts tomorrow.

Bit of colouring in before heading out to softplay.

There’s a nice big softplay centre not very far from us that we have a membership with. So I try and take Wee Daftie about once a week. Some days, she is so into climbing and sliding and enjoying the multitude of things to play with. Other days, she just wants to walk in circles.

Today was the latter.

We were there for over an hour and she probably spent half of that time just running and down the green ramp that leads down to the 2-4 year old area. Still, all counts towards my steps for Cancer Research and she was in her element so massive win for both of us!

The weather was lovely and bright in the evening before dinner so we took a walk towards the pier near our home. I was going to take us down the pier again but when we arrived, the tide was still out enough that we were able to walk along the beachy bit. I say beachy. It’s basically stones but it’s quite nice really.

So pretty, right? And on our doorstep!

Another successful day and an early night for both of us. Pretty sure we’ll be walking our socks off tomorrow!

Today was another quiet’ish day. The continuing less than desirable weather has made getting out and about not impossible just not overly enjoyable.

With that in mind, we had a fantastic morning catching up with one of my Mammy Mates and her little girl. I have been so lucky to have met all the other new Mammies over the past year and a bit. This particular lass I met through our antenatal class so we’ve been through a lot together. We don’t get to see a great deal of each other but it’s always so, so lovely when we get a chance to catch up.

Grey clouds and white snow don’t make for a lot of fun while walking. They do however make for a great excuse to enjoy a fab morning of chores, visitors and relaxing.

Doing chores really racks up the steps, by the way. That was my discovery today. Either that or I was just incredibly vigorous with mopping today.

After a lovely warm and soupy lunch, we had our weekly Skype with my sis and her kids. I love it when Wee Daftie has her chat with her cousins over Skype. She has this lovely habit of stealing the tablet from my hands, gurgling nonsense at her cousins while they get an exclusive view up her nose. (She hasn’t really worked out how to hold the tablet properly. She can see them so obviously they can see her. Even when they can’t!)

Today she also spent a lot of her chat showing them her books, reading her books and making a nest out of her books. I am so glad that my Nieces and Nephew are as patient as they are! Can’t have been that interesting for them, especially when they don’t get to see anything bar the inside of her nasal passages.

We took a big walk after her nap and before dinner. The snow had stopped falling but the wind was a strong as ever. My goodness. It honestly felt like I’d had a facelift by the time we got home, walking into the headwind has definitely tightened up my pores!

Who knew that would be an added benefit of raising money for charity!

Happy St Patrick’s Day!

I’m not really one for going mad and celebrating the day of our patron saint but I am very proud to be Irish. Especially on days like today! Why you ask? Well Ireland’s rugby team didn’t just win any old match today but their Grand Slam bid in the 6 Nations! Huzzah! So proud of the boys in green.

She slept through the first half and remained confused and cheering for the second.

The forecast threatened snow showers again today so I basically planned our walks around gaps in snowfall and the rugby. Priorities, right?

So we took an early-ish walk before lunch and then another one before dinner.

Wee Daftie’s reaction to the wind and the snow – bury head into Mammy’s chest and hold onto hat.

Despite the quiet nature of our day of walks, soup, rugby and chilli (cold days need to be combatted with warm food) here’s a list of 5 things my little idiot did today that made me laugh.

1) Instead of finishing the end of her breakfast this morning, she decided to decant her remnants into the dregs of my smoothie. She did this while my back was turned and then had the cheek to hand the glass over to me with a gigantic grin. As if she was doing me a massive favour.

2) Waking up from her nap, looking at the rugby on the TV and shouting “Ball!” before cheering.

3) On one of our walks, the wind was really horrid so she cuddled in and understandably whinged…until she heard barking. All of a sudden, “Doggy!” and big grins around. I’m not suggesting that she wasn’t upset by the wind but I am insinuating that she got over it very swiftly…

4) Insisting on drinking her water hands free at dinner time. (Luckily it’s a straw cup otherwise we would have flooded the kitchen)

5) Shouting, “Ready, Two!” before shuttle running across the living room to the kitchen as I made dinner.

I wonder what this says about my cooking…

Today was a day where our steps happily completed before dinner and a lovely reminder that a day can be rewarding and fun without actually having to do much.

Oh and Ireland are champions! Boom!

Today is an anniversary. It is, in fact, our 2nd Daftiversary. On this day two years ago, I found out about our Wee Daftie.

On this day, two years ago, I had the awkward task of telling my Big Human this news over Skype as he was in the middle of a job in Columbia.

On this day, two years ago, I found out that my body wasn’t actually as broken as I had previously been told and that I could, in fact, have kids.

On this day, two years ago, I cried, laughed, swore, and talked more than I had in a long time as Numbnuts, my parents, my Big Human and I all tried to process and plan.

On this day, two years ago, everything changed.

Montage of a gracefully sleeping Dafite.

The main reason my reaction was so extreme was because I had been previously told that it was highly unlikely that I would ever have children. Finding out about Wee Daftie was never bad news at all. Just incredibly overwhelming. So any tears weren’t bad, just my reaction to the enormity of the news.

Tiny baby Daftie, less than 24 hours old.

Part of why the news was mega – and I mean aside from me being under the impression that this wasn’t possible – was that I wasn’t just a little bit pregnant but 24 and bit weeks along.

Really.

I mean. It’s one thing to try and get your head around preparing for a baby but usually you get 8 to 9 months to try and suss things out. We had 16 weeks.

16 weeks to learn how to keep your Small Human who is utterly dependant on you alive. Chuck in moving in with my Big Human, it was a chaotic few weeks. I definitely can’t say we were prepared (as if you can ever really be prepared, right?) but we have made an excellent job of winging it!

Two day old Daftie, heading home from hospital. Such a drama queen then. Really should have realised this was foreshadowing.

So today was spent hanging out with my surprise baby, going to Monkey Music, having a massive walk and a kitchen dance party to smash our steps. And honestly, just feeling so grateful for that ridiculously odd day two years ago and everything it has brought to our lives today.

One of my favourite photos of one of my favourite Humans.

It was back to battling the elements for today’s walking. We had a couple of errands to run today so we had brekkie, got dressed and out into some unbelievably cold winds. The day was glooming grey and dank but the chill did take me by surprise.

Much more pleasant walking conditions last weekend!

We took a bus to our first duty bound stop of the day but walked down to the supermarket and our second task. It was a literal downhill walk so Wee Daftie had a great time, pelting herself down the road. Wee poppet got carried away running though and splatted a couple of times. Didn’t seem to be hurt though and did the most lovely production of dusting down of her knees and hands before continuing on her sprint to the shop.

At bath time, I did discover that she had actually grazed her knees. Just a little bit but my strong wee champ was totally unphased by it.

Speaking of baths, as I was cooking dinner, she proudly shouted, “Bath!” while dropping the sugar tools into the dish drainer. Still no idea how much help that was as I clearly had to wash them again.

After lunch, we went over for a playdate at my friend’s house. There are three of us Mammy Mates who are free on Thursdays so we usually spend a morning or afternoon together with our littlies.

Aside from the fact that I love these girls and it’s fantastic to have like minded Mammies to drink tea with, it is such a pleasure to see the Small Humans really starting to interact. They have spent time together for over a year now but now they are playing, following each other around, “talking” to each other, even starting to sound out each other’s names out.

So precious and ultimately hilarious.

Just making sure the washing machine is still turning.

Finished off the steps by taking the bus home that doesn’t actually stop that close to the flat. Lovely, albeit slightly soggy day, had by all.

Wee Daftie sound asleep in the drizzling rain. The mind boggles.

Two whole weeks! Wow! We have literally walked through the winds, the rains, the snow and the sun. And we have another two and half weeks left. Super excited to see how much farther we get.

Confession time.

I had every intention of walking all the steps outside as the weather was good, we had a thing to go to in the morning which allowed us a good walk home. However. What I didn’t anticipate, and which I really should have, was the ever changing nature of Small Humans.

Totally normal behaviour for Wee Daftie. As is me wearing a scarf indoors. Just sayin’.

Due to the snowfall a couple of weeks ago, we missed our regular Monkey Music class. Thankfully, they have a super system where you can just join another class during term time to catch up on a missed class so we headed off to Comely Bank this morning for an extra bit of monkeying around.

As much as I love this class, it is always a different experience when you’re at a different venue. And my goodness were the kids energetic today! I thought my girl was nonstop but she, generally, will pause for the teaching bits. I was exhausted just watching a couple of the other littlies rung rings around themselves!

My musical wee monkey.

After class, we walked most of the way home. I was keen to walk all the way home but, truthfully, my legs are still a bit stiff from the last two days of epic walking (over 30,000 in the last two days) so when I spotted a bus approaching, we jumped on and home for lunch.

On the bus back, I decided that we would do some chores, make lunch and then have a walk before dinner. Excellent idea.

Excited by the prospect of chores!

We managed to put on a wash, clean the kitchen, make and eat soup for lunch all before we both fell asleep on the sofa!

Don’t get me wrong, I knew she would fall asleep for a bit. She is still a toddler and she does still need one nap a day. What I did not count on is me joining her! Whoops. Clearly we both needed it!

Me after I woke up and as she stayed down for another hour. Precious time. Even if she snores like a buffalo.

By the time she woke up, there wasn’t enough time to get out for a walk so we just finished reading the books we started earlier, made dinner and listened to some music. So it was Leslie Sansone to the rescue again to help me get the rest of the steps done after dinner.

Steps achieved, fun had and even managed to sneak a nap in. Result!

What better way to treat screaming calf muscles than going out on another epic excursion in the spring sunshine!

Wee Daftie and I made plans to meet her Official Unofficial Auntie Numbnuts this morning for a big walk and some lunch. And I mean a Big Walk.

In my pre-Daftie days, Numbnuts and I would regularly go for long rambles, usually on balmy summer evenings after work. It’s not really something we can regularly do these days so it’s always so good when we can go walking as a trio. Though Daftie’s Auntie does like to remind her niece how she has ruined our social life.

Squirrel spotting at Prince’s St gardens while waiting on our bus to Crammond.

Crammond is one of my favourite places to go for a walk in Edinburgh. It has a little bit of everything. There’s some grass to play on, some beach to frolic on, some water to skim stones, some wooded paths, plenty of doggies and loads of ducks. (The last two are very important to a certain Small Human)

For me, it’s one of those places where a simple walk down the boardwalk is like a holiday all on its own.

Me in my natural habitat. No, not the woods. Mid gesture.

We walked a huge loop before stopping for lunch and the inevitable cake. The day went through the classic stages of Edinburgh weather, with most of the seasons in the one day. We had gentle rain with the ducks, cool breeze for our marching through the mud and over wooden steps and gorgeous sun when we met the Shetland pony.

No. Really. Look. Pony in the sunshine!

After lunch, we took a walk along the boardwalk and back home, clocking up a gigantic number of steps today. Wee Daftie has been a bit snotty today so most of our steps were done with her in Caboo so I feel immensely proud today.

Check it! All by 4pm! Yowzers!

Really pleased with what we achieved today but mostly I just love it when I can spend such precious time with two of my absolute favourite gals. And I’m pretty sure they like each other too.

Calves still whining at me but another successful day so all is good with me and my Wee Daftie.

Reading dvds together. As you do.