Doesn’t time fly? It’s hard to imagine that a year ago this gorgeous almost-toddler was almost failing to thrive, and I was struggling with post-natal depression as a result.

Talia at 18 months

Now she’s a little above the 10th percentile at 9.33kg and 74cm long, and has made the move into size 0 and size 1 clothing. I pulled out her summer clothing from last year and marvelled how 000 could look so small, when at first we could hardly imagine she would ever be big enough to wear it. We’ve come through winter with only two minor colds, which is fantastic given that she left hospital with chronic lung disease.

Developmentally speaking, Talia still exhibits global delays, but they do not stop her enjoying life immensely. She is nearly walking, having taken her first few steps, but is happier crawling at the moment – including some new crab walking with her bottom in the air. She recently started baby swimming classes (known here as “synchronised splashing”) and hopefully that will help her core body strength as well as giving her confidence around water.

Her favourite activities at the moment are going on the swing in the park, reading books, playing with balls, pegs and balloons, popping bubbles, starting games of peek-a-boo and hanging out with her bath toys. She has recently grasped the concept of putting pieces into a simple jigsaw (no interlocking pieces) but doesn’t have the dexterity to complete it by herself just yet.

Talia at 6 months (3 corrected) – one year ago.

Eating is still patchy, with the same problems of “loved it yesterday, hate it today, don’t even bother tomorrow”, but she’s continuing to gain (and grow out of things) despite the fact that she’s almost 100% self fed on finger food and I’m no closer to getting her to eat off a spoon, regardless of whether I’m holding it or she is. On the positive side, we can feed her a little bit of whatever we are having and no longer have to rely on food organised specifically for her (although we still do to some extent), and we’ve moved from formula to cow’s milk in the last month without any problems – in fact she clearly prefers it.

She will sometimes allow us to brush her teeth but it does take quite a bit of persistence. She sleeps well overnight and has one nap in the middle of the day, usually 1-1.5 hours long. I wish she’d sleep longer during the day but no luck so far – her room is probably not dark enough.

All in all, a wonderful, easy-care baby, even if she came without a manual! We feel very fortunate, and very proud.