So Thursday started with me bundling the girls into the car to go to a studio in North London where The Bean was doing a shoot for M&S kids! She's been doing a little bit of modeling since she was a baby, so as soon as I started my maternity leave she started doing bits and pieces again. Obviously the hardest thing is to tame a two year old who knows her own mind and takes direction from NOBODY! I generally use the age old technique of bribery, i.e 'If you are good today you can have some chocolate buttons'. The people are pretty good on the shoots and are well used to dealing with little people, so I can sit back and watch them try to make The Bean smile and not suck her thumb. They made her choose her own outfit, and you've guessed it, she chose pink, pink and pink!
We then rushed to the car and made our way to Five News where I was appearing on the lunchtime slot to talk about the recent report gurgle.com had commissioned on baby names. You may have heard the story as it was all over the radios, papers and TV, but we looked into the trends in baby names over the last 100 years to see which names have kept their popularity and which ones are declining in the popularity stakes. Popular names through the ages were names like William, Thomas and Elizabeth which are as popular now as they were 100 years ago. Not so popular and rapidly declining as a 'cool' name for parents these days is Richard (actually my brother and father in law's name) Norman, Percy and Walter and Gertrude, Edna and Ethel for girls. Certainly names I don't hear much in the play ground. If you're having trouble picking a name for your little one, don't forget to visit
www.gurgle.com/babynames for loads of ideas...
Five news decided that they wanted me to do the live chat with both my girls on my lap. Mmmm, I tanked Pops up with milk before hand as I didn't think they'd be too pleased if I whipped out a boob live on air. However It wasn't Pops I had to worry about, as soon as the cameras started rolling The Bean started to talk to the presenter, telling her, 'my name is Ivy and my sister is called Poppy'. Then she started explaining that her daddy was at work, and before I had a chance to say much else our time was up. Upstaged by a two year old, i'm getting used to it!
Finally after dropping The Bean off with her dad, Pops and I got a taxi to Sky news' political broadcasting center where I did a live chat with Sky news about baby names while someone minded Pops. It was strange to see my baby in such an austere, political setting! What a day - I'll try to get links up to the interviews, especially the one where The Bean steals the limelight. I have a feeling this is the way things are going to be from now on...