Life with Alex:

Hello world! Alex calling!

Alex at 10 months

• Snooze ruse
• Bedroom farce
• On the move
• Here comes trouble!

Child development is a beautiful thing. It's just a shame that it also means a lot more hard work for the parents! Just when we thought we'd cracked the broken nights, Alex has started with a new party trick.

At 4am, I wake up to what sounds very much like the primitive calling of an ape - very loud and persistent expressions of 'Ugh, ugh, ugh'. The first time this happened, I tried to ignore the monitor - switched down as low as my conscience will allow, but the grunts simply got louder until I gave in. And what should I find, but my nine-month old daughter standing proudly at the end of her cot, grinning from ear to ear.

So now we have a constant fight on our hands. Whereas Alex has always been very easy to put to bed - she plays happily by herself in her cot until falling asleep after about 10 minutes - bedtime has now become a power struggle. I lay Alex down; she grabs the cot bars and stands up. I push her back down; she laughs cheekily and, clearly seeing this as a challenge, quickly rights herself again. And so the game goes on.

Luckily, she is usually very tired by bedtime, so doesn't fight for too long. But daytime naps are another matter. No matter how cranky she has been, or how much she has been rubbing her eyes, the moment I try to lay her down for her daytime snooze, she is suddenly wide awake and hyperactive. Her mission is to get from a horizontal position to a standing position in as short a time as possible. It takes about two seconds. She's strong, that one.

And so nighttimes have become farcical once more. Alex has gone from sleeping soundly from 7pm to 6am, to waking frequently throughout the night. And when she is awake, she wants to stand up. The trouble is, she can't yet get herself back into a comfortable sleeping position once she's upright, so I have to wait for her to wear herself out and lay her down again. This is the really exhausting part, as Alex can remain standing for more than half an hour at a time. Not much fun for me at 1am, 3am and 5am.

You'd think that being zipped into a sleeping bag (very popular in France) might hold her back, but it doesn't make a blind bit of difference. Alex can not only stand up in her sleeping bag, she can also take the whole thing off , as well as her PJs. Stripping is one of her new games too - she never was one for hats or socks, but now she can take off a cardigan, or wriggle out of the sleeves of a t-shirt.

She's almost crawling now too. My Mum is here at the moment, as Nicholas is in the UK for a fortnight. Mum is being fantastic with Alex - reading to her, and spending invaluable time on her hands and knees playing with Alex on the floor. Suddenly, Alex seems to be coming on in leaps and bounds. She is starting to crawl forwards instead of backwards, can clap her hands on request, and can take several steps if supported. Which of course means we now need to start seriously toddler-proofing this house…

So yes, I'm tired! Being just under 12 weeks pregnant doesn't help. Coping with disrupted nights, very early starts, a full day's work, and an early pregnancy does nothing for my energy levels. I frequently find myself wondering how on earth we'll cope when little William or Lilly (we're still experimenting with names) makes his or her appearance in December.

That's where the childminder will really come into her own, we hope. We've finally found one. A local English woman I met recently popped round one afternoon. She has an 18-month old son who has been going to a childminder since the age of three months. Not only did she explain how the childcare system works (it's so cheap - six euros for half a day!), she has now introduced us to her childminder, and Alex starts there at the beginning of June for a couple of afternoons a week. This will get Alex used to being with other people - including 2-3 other young children - and will give Nicholas a bit of extra time to get some serious work done around this place.

I think Alex is really missing Nicholas. I'm wondering if this partly explains the current round of sleepless nights. This plus the fact that we've had visitors too - Dad came over with my Mum for a few days, and another friend came last weekend too. Alex has responded well to all the different people, blowing raspberries at my Dad, clapping hands for my Mum, and pulling my friend Jules's hair (gosh, it hurts when she does that!).

She certainly calls for him enough. 'Daddadaddadaddad,' she babbles all day long. That, and 'NannaNannaNannaNan'. I just hope it's not too long before she gets her tongue around 'Mum', as I'm starting to feel a bit left out.

As I think about it, it has been an active month in Alex's development. She finally cut her first tooth about a week ago too. A pickle-stabber, as my friend Emma calls it. She's very proud of it and is eating lumpier food and finger foods such as biscuits and crusts of bread - when only weeks ago she was choking on her jars of food for eight-month olds. Nature is incredible, isn't it?

Once we've decided whether Alex will keep the current nursery, or make way for the new baby, we want to start marking her growth on the back of her bedroom door. She had an obligatory check-up two weeks ago, and measured 76cm (almost 30 inches), with a weight of 10.1 kilos (just over 22lbs).

I thought Alex seemed much bigger than French babies of the same age until she came face to face with Pierre, another nine-month old, at our introductory meeting with the childminder.

We sat the two babies opposite each other, and Mme Quentin gave them both a biscuit. Alex immediately leaned in to snatch Pierre's but we weren't concerned because he matched Alex in size and build. But when he whipped his hand away, Alex grabbed him by his bib and yanked him towards her, shrieking indignantly when he resisted sharing his food. 'Uh-oh,' we thought. We've got a feeling Alex is going to make her presence deeply felt in Colombiers du Plessis by becoming an instant trouble-maker. Just like a typical Leo, she just wants to be the centre of attention at the moment…

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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