Trust our instincts

How has Coraline been on this trip? Entirely herself in quieter moments, sometimes overwhelmed in company, sometimes the great entertainer clapping and waving in company, sometimes not keen to settle out in a café, sometimes beautifully settled. Grisly at others’ houses! Happy at others’ houses. Beautifully behaved on a plane and then the baby on the plane who is really loud and can’t settle!

We don’t have a manual and the main thing we do is go with our instincts, and accept it’s O.K. as emotions are natural and everyone we are around understands this. We let her feel our calmness. We accept sometimes we don’t have the answer! We try to slow things down for her if we feel she’s getting overstimulated and we observe how she’s doing. Most of all we think everything we’re doing and seeing is amazing for her and we are proud of her. Her eating and sleeping at night are as lovely as ever. Daytime sleeping is erratic. She’s had two colds and we’re so pleased she can get ill and she can get out there! We think maybe those teeth might put in an appearance sometimes soon as we sense they’re on their way.

As ever, we trust her, she trusts us and we trust a scale of emotions is the natural order of things! Parrots and trees, oceans, waving to people, squid and sun, it’s all being absorbed! Thank you for this picture @mrs_herbie

Coraline and my first glimpse of a Perth beach

Clancy's Fish Bar City Beach

City Beach, Perth