One thing I love most about the Baby Awards is the cute product packaging – all those little elephants, giraffes and balloons and panda nappies. And the sense of wonder, that freedom that babies and toddlers have. All their free time – no rushing to the next appointment or racing to renew a driver’s licence.
The sheer joy of being small, when everything?s new and exciting and your friends share your room, from cuddly koalas to your patched-up Teddy at the foot of the bed, who?s made it through the generations but is still going strong. The spontaneous tears, the unstoppable giggling. ..
Notes from an English Summer
One of my most important jobs was as a summer nanny to two little boys. Their mum, who worked full time and left the house at 5am every morning, said to me one day: ?You?ve got a sense of wonder which is quite rare, never lose that.? In hindsight, I think a sense of wonder is one of life’s best assets – it’s a way of staying young. Luckily for me, that summer was one of Britain?s best?day after day of high pollen counts and blue sky days, with grass up to your ankles and raspberries waiting to be picked.

We did go fruit picking, we, the three musketeers with raspberries spilling out of our baskets (the ones that actually made it into them). We played in the park, laughed till our stomachs hurt, see-sawed till we were dizzy and sang along with our favourite songs on the car radio. While the boys tackled the local parkR...