10:40: Gemma just had her two jabs and barely protested - not even one scream! That's it until she turns one. She's now out for a walk with Mum, hopefully grabbing a nap as well.

In further parent mobility news, last night saw the debut of our use of the Childminders service, where an uberqualified person gets matched up with uberfidgety parents. After half an hour of overly labourious instructions we dashed out and went for dinner at Monkeys, a throwback to some 1950's period movie with Albert Finney and ex Conservative cabinet ministers getting their chins wet with drippings from their recently shot game. Careful attention to timing (last minute top up feeding, getting baby to bed) meant Gemma was asleep the whole time we were gone, establishing a false sense of ease for future babysitters. In continuing good news Gemma also took a bottle with barely a protest last night when we got back.
Our previous outing was made possible through a generous time grant from Jasmin, who combined a trip to the 'hood with three hours of babysitting time. We whipped out to see The Man Who Wasn't There, our first movie in a cinema since June. Thanks to Pottermania, our screen was kidnapped for the day and the movie was not showing, leaving us with the sole choice of America's Sweethearts, which needless to say was pretty awful.
Later this morning Gemma is getting her third round of s-h-o-t-s, but we know she'll be a trooper after five minutes of impossibly loud screaming. Reports to follow.

Gemma's has had another reasonable social calender recently. Last Tuesday we had Arndt and our neighbors Bill and Olun over for dinner, along with John Brown who was here on his final leg before returning to Montreal and on home. Later in the week, Kathy, Brett and Lucy came over for a little Moroccan cuisine, where Kathy got to drill questions to her heart's content, and have them patiently answered. On Friday night we moved the show to the Petcher-Carron household and babysat while the parents went out for a much delayed anniversary dinner. One of the girls slept through the evening, and one resisted an early bed time. Gemm... the girl who didn't go right to sleep, did eventually doze off and spent her first few hours in the miracle of modern design, the travel cot. And finally on Sunday night we went to David Shem-tov's for a seeing out the weekend dinner, featuring an amazing lamb and an impromtu game of the Weakest Link.
In Gemma Development Land: with the world watching, Gemma muscled through her first rollover from back to tummy and seemed mightly pleased with herself. This is still a one way journey but vistas are opening in the eyes of the young one. And at the health clinic today Gemma stormed in at just under 11 pounds (10 lb, 14 oz).

Goodnight room
Goodnight moon
Goodnight cow jumping over the moon.

Pretty much have that one memorised at this point, although the point of "goodnight noises everywhere" is sometimes lost on the audience.

Gemma capped off her extended weekend in Paris with a final dinner at le Square Trouseau. One waiter was particularly pleased to find his youngest patron was a girl, and we able to munch down relatively peacefully. Otherwise, we wondered more around town, did a bit more shopping and as we were in a hotel we naturally watched lots of MTV. Our videos of the moment are Basement Jaxx's "Where's Your Head At" and The Avalanches "Frontier Psychiatrist".

On Thursday we went to the hospital of stars, the Portland, for a checkup with a paediatrician. All went well, Gemma was her smiling charming self, and she received a clean bill of health. Previous advice to scrap veggies in favour of fish n' chips was dismissed. Like chips aren't vegetables anyway. Later that day, her Grandfather John Brown, who originally hails from Scotland where they know a thing or two about dubious eating habits, arrived in London for a week's visit here and in Brockham, where he saw one of the country's premiere Guy Fawkes bonfires.

This week saw some good progress on the sleep front, as Gemma tumbled into a rough schedule e.g. going to bed before midnight. Things went pretty well most of the week, with Gemma falling asleep before eight most evenings, waking up for a few feeds during the night but more or less out until eight or so the next morning (or better yet, 9:30 like this morning). Weekends have proved a little less successful as she's sensed the added freedom to stay up later and acted accordingly. She's also been taking a bottle better, so the sleeping baby + bottle feeding = evening out equation is looking good. This afternoon was spent at Paul and Jenn's, and fellow guest Trevor displayed some pretty impressive baby holding, cooing and playing techniques. Noted for future reference.