25 June 08

So far, so good. The feeding is going well, though Emily thinks she can feed herself and she's very wrong! She obviously doesn't really know where her mouth is. What a mess; the washing machine will be in overdrive as both of us get plastered in gunk.

Tokyo New Mums group had a meeting at a place called Ai-port, over near Aoyama cemetery. It's a great facility for young children, with a large playroom equipped with lots of toys, and plenty of soft seats for feeding time. Amazingly, the annual registration fee is just 500 yen (£2.50). I'm sure that once Emily can crawl and walk she will get a lot out of it, and for now she can at least watch older babies in action and hopefully pick up skills and progress faster. No doubt she will also pick up germs - we have been mercifully free of any bugs, but that can't last as we socialise more.

Afterwards we went to pick up a secondhand activity mat for her from a mum who was having a clear out. She has had the rainforest for more than three months and is getting bored with it. It's not worth spending good money on a new one as she should soon be on the move and won't need one any more.