Day 26 - Tuesday 21st August

Amelia woke up before 7:30am which is earlier than usual. She wanted to come into our bed to play games with my iPad (such as Wheels on the Bus and a new puzzle game I downloaded yesterday).

After breakfast, Suzy rang Gymboree to ask if Amelia could go there this morning to make up for the class she missed yesterday afternoon.  They put her on a waiting list and said it should be OK.

Yesterday I'd put Gymboree at the O2 centre at Hampstead into our TomTom as a favourite to make it easy to find our way there. I'd prefer to use our TomTom rather than the BMW satnav because it's what I'm used to. It got us there successfully with time to spare.

But then again, I missed one turn-off and Amelia pointed out that we should have turned off back there. She then began to cry because she thought that we weren't taking her to Gymboree after all. Silly Grandpa turned at the next street and did a U-turn that got us back in the correct direction. Problem solved.

It was the first time that either of us had participated in Gymboree class. The venue is on the top level of O2 shopping centre and resembles a play area with soft gym mats and low play structures because they cater for young kids. Apparently there are dozens of Gymboree locations all over the UK.

A young man arrived at 10:30am to run the class. The mothers assist in the class - such as sitting next to their child or holding them when they are climbing.

Suzy performed the mother's role whereas I generally kept my distance - I wouldn't have been comfortable for example sitting under a large parachute with a dozen young mothers.

Before we left the O2 Centre, we bought some groceries at Sainsbury's including some snacks to keep Amelia entertained on the way home. When we got home, Alan the cleaner was there. He said that John had just caught a taxi to go to the hospital to visit Nicky. (He had some work activities to undertake at home this morning.)

Amelia had been very active all morning and didn't get to sleep until about 2:30pm. Suzy took the opportunity of peace and quiet to catch a bus to a baby shop at nearby Muswell Hill to buy some gifts.

Suzy woke her at about 3:30pm so we could go to the hospital to visit Nicky and Amelia. It took a while to get everything ready for our journey - new dress, drinks, snacks, stroller, satnav, etc.

I was backing out of the driveway when Amelia told us that the door wasn't closed. I looked around and checked that all the car doors were closed. Then we realised that the front door of the town house was still open. Thank heavens that Amelia was on the ball.

We parked near Regent's Park as Nicky normally does. Challenge number one was that the parking payment machine wasn't working properly but eventually I got it to accept coins.

Challenge number two was that we could find the hospital. A quick call to John pointed us in the right direction.

When we reached Nicky's room just before 5pm, Alexis was asleep. Luckily she woke at about 5:45pm and so I was able to get photos of her with everyone before the parking meter expired.

During the day, Nicky had received visits from a variety of hospital staff including a physio for Nicky and a hearing specialist for Alexis.

After leaving the hospital, we went to the playground at Regent's Park. At this hour, the park was busier than when we were there a few days ago. Also there were cyclists everywhere.

John drove us home and then went on to the hardware store to buy things he needed. Suzy  had organised Amelia's dinner by the time John got home. John gave Amelia her bath and put her to bed.

Suzy had organised a delicious lamb roast for dinner in the new Crock-Pot.