So my Daughter is Five

I think I have been waiting for her to be 5 for about 7 years. 5-yr olds are real children aren't they? Feisty, curious, rational, articulate and utterly mad, proper children.
In the space of 5 minutes yesterday F went from typical 2-yr old behaviour ('I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't like it. I want it. Why can't I have it. I like it. I don't like it') to discussing the relative positions of the sky and the sun like a 7-yr old!
I haven't blogged for a while - have been working seriously hard and have just not felt very engaged by the blogosphere or online life in general in some ways. One of those phases I guess.
Went to Paradise Park in Newhaven today - quite a bizarre place, but really good for a family day out. The layout is so labyrinthine in places it's almost fractal. I just went at F's pace around the whole thing which meant catching glimpses of J, his dad and aunt on the other side of the various loops within loops within loops as if we were all in some giant surface-maximized cooling circuit. Dinosaurs, soft play, cactii, remote control boats, chips and cake - can't go wrong really, can you? F liked the geodes too, one of her favourite things.
What else have we been up to? F has done a bit more writing, drawing, making books, making up stories, has got into CBBC a bit, enjoyed Bamzookis and the Sports Relief programme with competing families. She has learned to hang from the monkey bars of one of the climbing frames in the park and to let go and drop. She has worked on tipping herself off the sofa at funny angles and saving herself - 'I saved myself with my difficult hand, mummy, look!'
Generally her days at the moment include the swing in the garden, a film or two or more, drawing, storytelling with or without use of toys/figures/other props. My Little Ponies are an ongoing feature and as of today have an array of new brightly-coloured amusements for their delectation. F and I have looked up various My Little Ponies on the Internet, using their identifying marks to find their real names. The mice, Jack and Mary, from Disney's Cinderella accompany us often on our travels in imaginary form, holding us up on our way to catch a bus as she has to stop and hold her hand out flat near the ground for them to jump on again. Dozy Mog causes consternation by mistaking them for a meal too - 'I eat!' and has to be corrected in no uncertain terms.
She's developing social strategies for making friends with other children we meet in the park or wherever - she is getting good at hanging out close by them, joining in with something they do, initiating a conversation, waving to them, smiling, finding a range of ways to communicate and open up contact - she likes children who are as chatty as her but I've been explaining to her that some people make friends more by doing stuff together and some people are more chatty.
She has reprised her big crush on Puss in Boots from Shrek 2 and kisses pictures of him and the telly when he appears. She has done a few good pictures of him and written his name with some help and written 'CAT' without any help.
On she goes, my beautiful daring funny intelligent five girl.