The party really is over

It was Olivia's party, yesterday. The wife's deadly organisational skills made sure 12 children, one magic show, a raft of hot dogs and a bucket of jelly and ice cream all went without a hitch. Marvellous. Here she is wearing, frankly, the coolest pair of baseball we've ever seen with her bestest pal Peggy.

Interestingly, we seem to have established that the average spend per parent on a present for a child they don't know is about £10. I guess part of it the relief that your child is popular enough to actually get invited to parties. When we moved here Olivia didn't get invited to a single party in the first year. Come year two and we'd obviously passed some sort of test and, bingo, parties galore. Anyway, back to the £10. There's clearly some sort of gift etiquette and if your purchase isn't up to scratch you get dissed in the playground (parents rather than the children thankfully). Caryn's convinced that one parent who threw a party to put the Beckhams to shame recently is still showing her displeasure at the two books we gave her little darling. Two. Books. Anyway, you should see the stuff we came home with - more My Little Pony than is strictly necessary, a ton of drawing/colouring in/sticking stuff which is always a winner and the best present of all? Two breakfast bowls and a cereal selection pack. Genuis.

One of the many joys of life is watching your children with other children. It makes me feel so proud watching Olive hold her own, it's especially lovely to see her forming her own little gang of mates. Lukey had a good time too - happiness really is jelly and ice cream for that boy. And he got a party bag with a car in it. Life just doesn't get much better when you're two.