Life with Alex:

Love and laughter

Alex at 8 months

• Sleeping like a baby
• Baby's got wheels
• Le babysitting
• Secrets and ties

Alex's sleeping problems seem to have finally cleared up. About bloomin' time - she's almost eight months old. When I tell French mothers or nurses that Alex 'fait pas ses nuits' (doesn't sleep through), they look at me in abject horror, as though I'm doing something badly wrong.

But yes, finally, the 2am shift seems to have been phased out and we can finally resume normal sleeping habits ourselves - just when I was beginning to wonder if bedtimes would ever be the same again. Last night, Alex slept for a complete 12 hours, without waking us once, and this has been the pattern for the best part of a week now.

We made some slight adjustments to her feeding routine recently and I wonder if it is this that has finally made the difference. That and the fact that, having consulted the writings of the experts once more, I had convinced myself once and for all that we are not in fact depriving Alex of something she needs by withholding her night feed. Towards the end, Alex was failing to drink the milk we painstakingly made up for her at 2-3am anyway, preferring juice! Our GP, Dr Gilles, had been right - she was just thirsty. And now she doesn't bother waking at all. Wonderful!

Alex hasn't had a check-up for a while now, as the 'obligatory' monthly visits have stopped now and she isn't due for her next set of injections until May. She continues to grow at quite a rate though, and I'm wondering just how much longer she'll be sleeping in her cot as she's getting so tall, and can be found most morning bunched up in the top left corner, despite us having settled her with her toes touching the bottom bars.

She's developed an impish little personality, and is an absolute joy to be around at the moment - so happy, playful and easy to love. She enjoys peek-a-boo, and even more than that, hide and seek. We can do this when she's in her 'whizzer' as we call it - her baby walker. She loves this to distraction, and to a point where she is no longer interested in her door bouncer because it springs back when she tries to takes steps in any direction. In this glorious spring weather we've had lately, she's been hurtling about the garden, chasing the dog and cats and shouting after them. In the kitchen, she follows me around, grabbing at my legs and babbling up at me to come and play with her. And so we play hide and seek. I run behind the counter, and she chases after me, beaming when she finds me. She loves to play. She's also much more alert on our walks now. Instead of nodding off once we turn onto the lane, she sits bolt upright in her pushchair and moos back at the cows.

She's showing more interest in her bedtime stories too. I've reverted to the soft, tactile books and she particularly likes the one with farm animals, perhaps because she associated the sounds I make with the sounds we make and hear on our walks. I'm really enjoying this phase of Alex's development. There is lots of laughter in our house at the moment.

I keep wondering if and when she might get clingy, as I've read that this could happen at any time now. We're so lucky to have Alex at home with us all day, but I've also begun to think that perhaps more contact with other adults at some stage soon might be better for her in the long run, in case she does otherwise become inseparable from us. We haven't yet left her with a babysitter, for example, and although she encounters plenty of other people, we have never left Alex alone with anyone other than immediate family. I'm well aware that in trying to show her how loved and protected she is, because we're always here for her, we might also be doing her a disservice for the long term - and creating a rod for our own backs.

As Alex becomes more wakeful by day, and the gradual onset of summer brings more maintenance work around the property which demands Nicholas's time, it may be that we begin to consider some form of part-time child care for Alex during the week - perhaps for a couple of afternoons. There don't seem to be any cr&ègrave;ches nearby, but nourrices (local day care nannies) seem to be a common and affordable option here, which might be something to look into, just to give Nicholas a bit of his life back, and Alex a bit more independence.

I know that would be a real wrench though, especially for me, as I relish the opportunity to pop out and kiss and cuddle my daughter throughout my working day. At the moment, I get to give her all her meals and take her for afternoon walks, and still work a full day in the office. How many other working mothers have that luxury? I consider myself very lucky, and will have to think long and hard before we consider changing things.

A close friend of mine in London had her first baby last week, three and a half weeks early. It's a boy - Archie, after my friend's grandad. I wish we lived closer so that we could share these special times in our lives. It would be nice to think we could all take our holidays together in future, as little families, camping in Brittany, or further south towards La Rochelle.

We are a convenient stop-off for visitors to France who have come by ferry to the ports of Caen, Cherbourg or St Malo, which means we get quite a lot of visitors. Our first of the year, apart from my family, will be my friend Liz who arrives in a week's time for a long weekend. It will be fantastic to see her, not least because she will be the first of my UK friends to finally meet Alex. I can't wait to show her off!

She might also be the first of my friends to learn a little secret…

I'm late, you see.

Sue Tabbitt, 33, is a freelance IT journalist, who moved to the outskirts of Normandy more than 12 months ago to start a new chapter in her life with her Canadian husband, Nicholas, a ballroom dancing teacher.

Tune in next month to find out how Sue, Nicholas and baby Alex are getting on in Normandy ...

Thanks to Kodak for the digital camera lent to Sue and Nicholas for the duration of this diary column.

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