Our lovely and chaotic son Charles was born on 26 November 2002, in the Rosie Maternity Hospital in Cambridge, England. He was two weeks overdue. Obviously he had not believed our frequent reassurances that it was not too cold `outside'. His first year was as eventful and stressful as one would imagine. The pictures here illustrate Charles' progress through his early life. What you do not see here are the myriad heart attacks suffered by his parents at various times, as we noticed just what it was he was doing.

Step one: get water on toothbrush. (Note: there are some earlier stages in Charles' bedtime routine but they are not shown here, because they involve nappies.....)

Step two: try to clean teeth while dismembering Daddy at the same time.

Step three: Get excited so that sleep, for a while, becomes impossible.

Step six: read me a story .....     When the story is over, the final step (not shown because it happens in the dark) is zzzzzzzzzzzzzz