I am completely thrilled. I don’t think I have ever won anything in my entire life, ever, yet a great big pile of gardening tools is now standing in my hall, free. I filled in a coupon for a prize draw (not even a proper competition!) in Gardens Monthly magazine and they have very kindly sent me – and 2 other lucky winners – a spade, fork, border spade, border fork, rake, sprung rake, half-moon edgy thing and hoe. Spear and Jackson E series, very shiny, very posh of handle. Quite heavy, maybe, though I will report back properly when I’ve had a go with them (at the moment they are all still wrapped), but sure to be better than the tools I have had for the past 10 years, which were a job lot from Argos. (And have suited very well: I’m not knocking Argos. Apart from the trowel, which is bent and a bit knackered, but I don’t have a replacement for that.)

*(I’m the one who is the winner.)

That’s one-and-a-half. Properly a toddler and definitely not a baby any more. She’s less verbal than Maggie was at this age – look – whether through second-child syndrome, ie being ignored a lot, or necessity, as I’ve become a better mind-reader, we don’t know. But she understands everything you say to her and can communicate everything she needs to so who needs words. Marcel Marceau eat your heart out. (For the record: duck (any bird), cat (any 4-legged creature), mummy, dada, ma-ma (Maggie or more, depending on context), up, baba (bunny – I think – or baby hannah her doll), hiya, shhh (fish), beebee (cbeebies)*, whee!, plus rororo (your boat).)

She loves music and songs and is never happier than when pointing to the ceiling with gusto during wind the bobbin up, or clapping her hands because she is happy and she knows it. She is practising very hard just now to jump with both feet, and loves to do spider-monkey jumps across the sofa or whizz round the house on her wheelybug. She is most independent and strong-minded and Will Not hold my hand on request (so gets carried rather more than she would like: must try again with reins). She gives big sloppy kisses – again, entirely on her own terms and not on request – and is a giggler. Also a squealer, which I hope very much is a short-lived phase. She’s fantastically helpful when unloading the dishwasher, putting all the baby items in the drawer…but cannot be persuaded to load the washing machine, which Maggie was great at.

Happy one and a half, baby Tamsin!

*Last week when I was laid out on the sofa being poorly, she climbed onto me, settled herself down, pointed most insistantly at the television and demanded beebee. She bounces along with Carrie and David most amusingly.

 VP tagged me and it would be rude not to play. I think I might have done it before but if I can’t remember then I am sure you won’t either.

1. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. The player tags 5 people and leaves a comment telling them they’ve been tagged & asking them to read their Blog.

Q. What were you doing 10 years ago?
A. We were in the throes of buying our first house – we moved in in July – and caught up in wedding preparations (married in September). I was writing up the first year of my PhD.

Q. Name 5 snacks you enjoy
A. Chocolate, magnums, ryvitas with peanut butter, veggy dips with hummous, cake.

Q. Things I would do if I were a billionaire
A. I don’t really aspire, does that make me weird? I suppose I’d treat all my family – pay their mortgages and give them a nice holiday. Pay our mortgage (oh and I suppose we might move to another house, so I’d pay for that) and have a daily cleaner.

Q. Five jobs that I have had
A. I don’t know if I’ve had five! My first job, aged 13 or 14, was in a French bakery-cum-cafe on Saturdays; I stayed there until I left to go to university. Second job (first uni summer) was running a cafe in St Ives, Cornwall, 3 or 4 days a week. Single handed. Second and third summers I waitressed in the restaurant at Wisley RHS gardens. I spent a year at Shell from my degree, and went back there the following summer to do a study into diesel trucking. When I finished my PhD I got a job as a medical editor and although I am not still employed by that company, that is what I am still mostly doing.

Q. Three bad habits
A. Failing to put things away when I have finished with them – or leaving them lying about half-done for days on end. Wandering off in the middle of doing something sensible (unloading the dishwasher, doing a jigsaw with the children, ironing, potting on seedlings…) and inadvertantly spending half an hour online before remembering. Brackets.

Q. Places I have lived (I’ve changed this as naming 5 seemed odd)
A. Addlestone, Edinburgh, Chester, Manchester, Warrington, Tokyo

Q. Five people I want to know more about
A. Um. I am shamefully lacking in curiosity because I can’t think of a single one.

I’m not tagging anyone because most of my friends won’t do memes (you know who you are!). If you’d like to do it please consider yourself tagged, and please leave a comment so I can come and read your answers.

What we did (last weekend) was head down to mum and dad’s. Friday we went to Legoland, Maggie’s slightly belated birthday treat. It took her a little while to get into it – for the idea of “going on things” to sink in – but once it did, she loved it. She was much braver than we expected and loved the jetski ride with Cameron. The lego troll in the fairyland brook was a bit scary, though – and it was a bit of a shame it wasn’t warmer as there is a fantastic water-play area for littlies. We only had to shelter from one rainstorm, which is pretty good going, and unfortunately ran out of steam before getting to the Viking water ride thing I fancied going on – but that just means we will have to go again. Nice and quiet on a Friday, too.
Cameron spotted in the paper that there was a Banksy “thing” happening at Waterloo, and as luck would have it we were planning a day in London on Saturday anyway. We had tickets for the Lord of the Rings musical and my parents primed for a day of childcare. Cameron’s city knowledge far surpasses mine these days (the shame) and he led us straight to the appropriate tunnel – a short queue and we were in. Lots of great stencilling but my absolute favourite was the small children with spray-cans and crayola stencils merrily putting up small dolphins and palm trees!

After lunch we walked over to the theatre, past huge crowds out enjoying the sunshine on the south bank. The musical was fine: what a treat to go to the theatre in the afternoon and beautifully, spectacularly staged. The incidental music was nice but the songs forgettable and the trouble with the LOTR story – well actually there are a couple of troubles with it. One, there is just too much of it so it had to be cut hugely (of course, who wants to sit in a theatre for 4 days), and two, there is a lot of “travelling” or “being chased” which in effect means watching people run in circles round the stage. Still it was 3 hours and I didn’t feel bored, so that says something. And I loved the bit where the orcs came along the aisles and leered at the audience. I was scared and the little girl in front of us was utterly terrified.

Dinner in Chinatown and home to a sleeping baby (!) and an in-bed child. Fantastic.