We are having fun at the moment... Here is a picture of our one of the peg people we got to work on last night. We're making one for each of the people who will be joining us to celebrate the new year.

But at the same time - who put the bee in Mollusc's bonnet?

It's been buzzing away for a couple of weeks and I had put it down to the heady excitement of Christmas. She's super sensitive to too much of anything and busy shops have got the better of her on several occasions: bright lights, lots of noise, overwhelming hustle and bustle, not to mention complete strangers attempting to tell her off in the midst of an upset. No, thank you!

After a run in with an 8 year old dressed as a rather realistic reindeer, Mollusc has perfected the art of frantically scaling my legs and torso in the event of anything remotely unsettling. "Mammee, mammee, cuggy cuggy!" has become a constant refrain, throughout the day and during the night, when she wraps her arms around my head, puts her hands down my top and tries to climb into the pyjamas I am wearing.

Since my pregnancy with Nudi, breastfeeding has fallen into a mutually acceptable pattern of morning, afternoon naptime and night time. Occasionally if we are at places where other toddlers breastfeed, she might ask. But now it appears to be an almost constant need that I am struggling to accommodate, especially with an almost 5-month old who is exclusively breastfed. Mollusc has always been an intense nursling and this has recently become much more noticeable, as have her super-sharp canines and relentless, wandering hands.

There's other things, too. The desperate need to be carried down the stairs, although she's been negotiating them independently for months. The requirement to be touching me or on someone's knee at all times. The newly developed inability to wait, even for a second, for anything - no matter how seemingly insignificant or irrelevant.

They all sound like such little, petty things. But writing it all out, I am pretty sure what's going on - she's on the brink of moving to the next stage of independence and she needs reassurance before she does so, not least because she has a very small baby brother who also demands attention and has no concept of independence at all.

After the repeated norovirus episodes of a whole year ago she is finally starting to experiment with food beyond dry crackers, crisps, toast and milk - hurrah for my patience and steadfast refusal to force her to eat! She's also consistently dry through the night, although she has shown precisely no interest in toilets or pants - which of course is fine.

But my goodness, this period of time is so hard. I am so glad I love her so deeply. I know it will pass and I know I won't even recall this fully in a few months' time, but for now, suffice to say, it is so hard.

Update: last night was horrendous - we slept nose to nose for much of it and if I turned over at any point she broke down completely. However, she has also started saying "MY mammee, MY mammee" at every opportunity, so I think she is working on the concept of ownership.