When little Nevey is not having tummy aches, she likes to chat. She’ll
sit in her bouncer or lie on her changing mat and coo in a convincingly
conversational way, responding to questions and seeimingly putting
effort into reproducing the sounds presented to her.
We don’t remember Lola being at all vocal at this age.
Neve continues to have tummy troubles and spends some considerable time
every day crying in pain, arching and tensing. Often there’s no way to
console her: it’s all about trying to hold her in the ‘correct’ position
and walking around until your back reciprocates with its own agonies.
When she does settle, almost invariably while being held, it’s
impossible to put her down — or even sit — without her waking and the
process starting all over.
She eats well and burps like her father but she’s not so fluent at the
other end, sometimes emitting nothing for days on end except for the
occasional fart. On Tuesday, she did her first poo since the previous
Thursday — I think that’s her record so far for anal reticence.
The amazing thing is that when she’s not hurting she’s a good-natured,
smiley, alert and engaging little girl.
If you’re ever in North Wales and pondering a route home then, assuming
home is somewhere you might get to by first aiming vaguely at
Birmingham, don’t hesitate: take the B4391.
Or, perhaps: don’t, as one of the things I liked about this road as we
drove down it on Monday was the utter lack of traffic. I don’t think we
encountered more than a dozen vehicles in an hour and a half’s driving.
What I liked most, though, was the sheer, raw beauty of the
landscape this route passes through. Running from Ffestiniog nearly all
the way to Shrewsbury (you take the B4393 for the last few miles, but it
takes up the mantle very well), the road starts in the 
wild, bleak, craggy land of Snowdonia, and snakes down into the more
cultivated, hillock-strewn terrain of Shropshire. One minute tiny, winding,
and sheep-strewn, threatening to toss you down the sheer side of the
valley; the next looping at speed across a great marshy expanse with
glowering peaks in the distance.
Well, I don’t have the words to evoke it right now; or ever, perhaps. You can see the route here