Reflections of us - by Theo

It's often one of the first things people do upon meeting our daughter - decide which of us (Kate and I) she most resembles. Thankfully, most people agree that there is more of Kate reflected in Rosie than me. A relief I think you'll all agree, but here's some baby photos so you can decide for yourself.

Theo:

Kate (with her little sister Becky) :
Rosie:
As you can see, there is definitely more of Kate in Rosie than me.

It's not just in looks that Rosie reflects her mother; in language too. Naturally enough, as Rosie spends more time with Kate than she does with me, her emerging speech patterns reflect her mother's more than they do mine. Hence in recent days the phrases "Come on then" ("cumonden") and "Shall we?" ("shallee") have regularly rung out around the house, while the previously contracted "stad!" has finally lengthened out to the full "it's Dad!" These aren't full sentences, or at least Rosie doesn't conceive them as such; it's too early in her linguistic development for that. Rather they are simply phrases and collocations that Kate regularly uses and sound to Rosie like polysyllabic words. So, just as she reflects her mother in looks, so she echoes her in speech.

Sadly this has meant that common Spanish phrases - vamos, venga, muy bien, que quieres?, donde estas? - have yet to be uttered, as it's mostly me that uses them. However recently Rosie has been using toma ("take") and gracias ("thank you") more or less correctly. Mas o menos.