A visit from the girls

It's about time I share a few photos of the newest girl in our family: little Charlotte Maudie H. She was born on 19 April, and was just over two months old when the following family shot was taken. The occasion was my sister N's visit, and that's N below, holding Charlotte, with proud Mum, my daughter Zoe, looking on. (The 4th girl on the left, of course, is big sister Lucy, who doesn't yet pay much attention to the newest member of her family, though I understand she did recently have a little lick of Charlotte's face when Mum wasn't looking.)

Not surprisingly, my granddaughter is just about the most amazing child who ever drew breath. Not that I take credit for that, of course – it's just a fact of life which any grandmother would understand. I guess I could lay claim to some credit for the fact that Zoe is doing an outstanding job of mothering. But that might be difficult to justify, given that I made a bit of a mess of some of my own early experience in that role.

Maybe that's why I am so revelling in the role of grandma. Of course, I have had good practice as one of several grandmothers to Sam and, in a smaller way, to Allen's other two grandchildren. But I'm still amazed at the joy I feel in being part of this little one's life. And I am already thinking ahead to all the things I hope to share with her and teach her.

  

My delight is probably greater because Z&B's decision to have a baby came as such a surprise to me. In recent years Zoe had begun to talk about the possibility. But years went by and so I really stopped thinking much about it. And now that it's actually happened, little Charlotte has worked that miracle that only babies can. She has brought hope and optimism for the future back into my life, where previously those things had been, if not exactly lacking, certainly a bit thin on the ground, given all that has gone on with us in the past few years.