This post was written in November 2003, when my first child was 8 months old.

Back then, going to a mother’s group (or playgroup) was one of the best things I did as a new mother. It saved me from going insane, it was my social network, it was my girl time, it was fun, enjoyable and relaxing.

There were 8 of us in the group, and we met up every week for 4 years (until our oldest kids went to kindergarten).

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We went to our playgroup today!

Callum is the first in the group to crawl – and it wasn’t a good thing!

I spent most of the morning chasing after him, while all the other mums relaxed with a cup of tea. He was chasing the other babies, stealing their toys, trying to suck people’s toes and trying to grab the chocolate biscuits.

Eventually I let him loose in the baby play area. And I caught him examining himself in the mirror. It was too cute!

Then he successfully climbed through one of those plastic cubby houses.

We cut his hair the other day. It was getting long and feral looking. I was too nervous to use a pair of scissors, because Callum REALLY likes shiny things, and I was afraid that he might try to grab them as I snipped his hair.

So we got out the clippers and gave him a number 6 all around. Now he definitely looks more like his dad.