Foxy and Kitty are over, and we've bribed out way to a silence of sort with El Dorado.

Gemma and Liv are counting the days until Gabrielle and Sofia come to town.

Went to Hayward on Sunday to see the Antony Gormley show.

Half-term was bookended a few days later with a long weekend in Paris. First night in and the girls were in bed, all comfy and quiet, by midnight, so that was a result. On Thursday we bundled onto the 69 bus which crawled/sped its way through town to the Eiffel Tower, so of course, we obliged.

Mad Hatter Tea rides? Flying Dumbos in the air? Cutting edge, in that 50s kind of way, amusement park attractions? Gemma and Papa did it. Worst fast "food" in the world? Did that too.

Kicked off Gemma's first half-term with a weekend with Fred and Harry in Stroud. Went of a stroll on the countryside, recorded a few demos on Garageband and had a Gemma/Harry sleepover in the bunkbed.

The howlin' winds are upon us, and so new coats are on the girls.

No one lurves a satsuma like Liv; they are the new black. Plop one in front of her, turn your back for a sec, and it's peeled and steamrollered into her mouth. Earlier this week she wolfed down five one day and now they're kept out of sight.

Gemma, Liv and I had an extensive slo-mo dance to Music for Airports tonight. The power of imitation and coordinated movements calmed the joint down and was a nice transition to bedtime.

Gemma and Liv capitalised on Mark's knee operation by hitting Kensington-by-the-Sea, home of

one of the UK's best fish and chips shops (sampled, can't disagree)

Europe's largest poetry festival (who knew? And who counts?)

a pretty, pebbly beach

Mark's borrowed house for a week or so

Pity was in short supply as we shuffled Mark and down the high street and onto wobbly surfaces, but we all found some unusual rocks to play with at the beach, gingerly stepped into the surf and sent a few from the party to the Cross Keys for swift one.

Gemma held a discussion about seasons today, declaring that winter, followed by autumn, are her favourites. Summer falls down the list because the sun is too bright. We agreed the best things about winter are:

1. Christmas
2. Going to Montreal to see friends and family
3. Playing in the snow
4. Skating
5. Skiing
6. Having winter food
7. The bluest blue skies of the year
8. Bundling up inside
9. Snowballs
10. Seeing your breath
11. Snow makes things pretty

A Bank holiday weekend, and a social one at that for the girls. Kingsley, Freddy and Harry barrelled into town for a couple of nights, with a little sport action on TV during the day. The lads are all in good form, and particularly good humoured with the clamouring for attention from Gemma and Liv.

Todler Isaac turned two so it was off to see him and family on Sunday for some celebration and nibbles - his last birthday in the UK for the foreseeable future. On Monday morning the Petcher clan came over for a little park action while Brett scaped in a narrow win in tennis, with a 14-12 tie-break breathtaking final. The weekend closed down as we whisked off to overeat and flop around in the yard of Leah, Jasmine and Julian and a final hurrah BBQ with Mark and his lovely wine.

The gals went if for some "lifestyle" sports today, with a couple of firsts: Gemma took her first tennis lesson. Lots of hopping around, not a lot of sweet spot connecting, presumably fun. And later in the day she got her first bike (slightly overdue birthday present), and hence, her first bike ride. Liv used the tennis time to go for a splash.

Liv's expanding vocabulary:

The quiddity of birds gets translated into "duck"

Cat: ditto, any smallish animal with fur

Clock: a couple of hands, it ticks, markers for every 5 minutes...it's pegged

"Let's talk about my days on the 'puter" said Gemma.
"OK. you talk, and I'll type."
"I have a finger out; what can we do with my finger? I want to do something with my finger". It hovered over the keyboard.
"I'll type, it'll be faster. What did you do today?"
"Had breakfast and had my milk, and then go to the gym."
"What did you do at the gym?"
"I went swimming, on the slide, did some paddling, played with water from two taps and a fountain".

After the gym Gemma and Mummy came home, picked up Daddy and Liv and went to have lunch in a nearby pub garden. Then it was off to a park.

"What park?"
"I don't know."
"We went to Hampstead Heath. What what it like?"
"Sunny. We had a BIG walk, looked at kites, pushed our pushchairs, got a lolly, looked at a playground, looked for our car. We did find our car."
"Then what?"
"Drove home. Did some gardening. I did water gardening."

Gemma's Word of the Day/Week/Month: Why?

"What I did today" by Gemma, as dictated to your tireless correspondent:

"I woke up and I had breakfast, I had my milk, I got dressed and then I go (sic) to school. I played a game, made a story when someone read to us. After school I came home, had lunch and then I went to a gym with Liv and Mummy. I played at the gym: cars, houses, putting clothes on dolls. Then I went to Foxy's and played there: puppet show,payed with trains on tracks went out in the garden, went on the garden swing. Then I had dinner with Foxy, and I had a lolly too. A green lolly. Then I went home, then we looked for you (Daddy), then we did things with you. That's it. That's my big day."

Surfing seniors are a good thing, one guesses. In our family's case we can rest easy knowing publishers of anything that combines Scotland, the monarchy and/or 20th C military history can meet any site traffic targets they have. Book, travel, flight arrival schedules and weather sites also get a look in, and fat photo files wing their way from one broadband person to another. Sometimes the odd questionable email claim comes in as well.

But what a pesky bunch. A lapse of a mere 242 days since the last text update and everyone's shaking a virtual pitchfork, demanding news on granddaughter developments. So let's see...

Last time we checked in, Liv was bum shuffling along the floor and Gemma was directing the choice of parks. Now, Liv is walking, and sometimes sprinting, around the place. She's a no-fear kinda gal, climbing up whatever needs climbing, falling down and getting on with things, cruising up and down stairs. Her parents are a little less babygate obsessed, marking a huge improvement in mobility for Liv and everyone everyone else. A healthy appetite is being fed by dexterous use of forks at the big girl table, so the high chair is on its eBay way to another family (joining the prams and car seats already outta here). Luckily a mere whisper of "toothbrush" gets Liv scrambling to the bathroom, hands outstretched, so those six or so teeth remain pearly white.

Gemma is still into her parks, but also developing other priorities: hitting Tesco's, visiting Hannah, watching Dora ("my favourite show") or, if her father is around, the Simpson's ("my second favourite show", although this claim is a transparent, if charming, lie, as other shows get more attention). The birthday party season is alive, most recently with lifelong pal Lucy turning four last weekend, hosting a lovely puppet-in-the-park affair. Only a few months until Gemma hits the same milestone.

No, no, no. For someone so smiley and happy, Liv's adoption of a firm head shake to suggest she doesn't want to do something has been unexpected. When it's applied to cut off more food, it's even more surprising.

Summer has finally kicked in, and with it, Gemma's increasingly nuanced expectations on what she should be doing. It's no longer enough to decide to go to the park; now which park is the equally important question. With rapidly expanded vocabulary in tow, her latent bossiness potential is being exploited.

Meanwhile Liv is bursting to bust a move. An embryonic bum shuffle, combined with rolling, semi-push ups and mastery of the sitting up position, means the baby gates need to be dusted off. Otherwise, her megawatt smiles, healthy eating and a sleeping in approach makes for happy parents.

We've been out and about with visits to Isaac and co., visits from Harry and Fred, a few excursions to the galleries and plenty of parks. A few recent flicks include Farenheit 911 and Before Sunrise, and the main culinary pastime has been grilling steaks with a little Fiorentina touch... post-grilled salt, drizzled olive oil, served on rocket and parmesan.