Bridget's vocabulary is growing fast. Hester and I sat down last night to jot down all the words we can think of that Bridget has used several times in appropriate contexts, and came up with the following provisional list:

And, given that I'm sure we've forgotten some, we're probably quite a way over the 150 mark.

Of course, not all of these would be readily recognised by an inexperienced researcher...

Bridget has had, since Christmas, a floppy rag-doll. And, since Christmas, she has more or less ignored this doll, apart from taking it a few trips in her toy pushchair. Until, that is, a few days ago.

The doll has now become a lodestar in Bridget's life. Doll gets given pretend cups of tea; doll has long conversations on the phone; doll is sometimes carefully put down to sleep; doll gets carried around all over the place; doll regularly goes into the cot with Bridget; doll gets given Bridget's books to read; doll gets her nappy changed (even though she actually has no nappy); doll gets her clothes changed (even though her clothes are, in fact, immovably sewn on); and doll has to 'taste' every single mouthful of Bridget's food before Bridget will consent to eat it.

The obsessive focus on one toy above all others we had been prepared for. It is the variety and intensity of the imaginative play - doll treated, in effect, as a surrogate Bridget, made by Bridget to do the things which we make Bridget do - that has surprised us.