Always be my baby

Our little one turns 13 months next week and she's still as "baby" as ever!

She's still babbling, gagaing and cooing away - she's only got one word down and it's not daddy, mummy or mama. It's ball. I've caught her practising on one occasion in the middle of the night, in complete darkness as she lay in her cot: "bor, bor, borr, ball". Really cute - whenever she sees something round, she immediately exclaims "bor!".

She's not walking on her own yet, although she can hold someone's hand and so a weird sort of sideways walk with legs that are completely stiff and straight; ah, that could be the problem. She's quite adept at crawling though, but not as good as Nigel during his heyday when he could charge around at 20 kmh with his head down.

The occasional topple still happens with her; it's like her co-ordination skills are taking their time in coming online. All this, of course, adds to her cute charm, like a clumsy waddling duckling. In the meantime, we're forced to carry her around when we go out, which no one is quite complaining about yet, until about 15 mins has elapsed and she starts struggling.

Has a child remained a baby forever, I'd like to keep this one a baby as long as possible!