IT'S been an eventful week.

Matthew laughed for the first time. He's nearly three months old and has been smiling for weeks.

But the other day Louise was tickling him and pretending to sneeze, saying 'ah-ah-atishoo', and he squealed with laughter.

Lou and I melted.

He's the same age that Emily was when she first broke into giggles. On that occasion we were in a pizza restaurant in Edinburgh and, Emily being our first child, we were beaming with pride.

As we pushed her in her pram back to our hotel that night we couldn't resist making her laugh, pulling funny faces, making silly noises, tickling her.

That was four years ago. So it's lovely to experience it again with Matthew.

Meanwhile, Emily was awarded a merit badge and certificate last Friday, for 'sitting beautifully in class'.

You can imagine our pride in our little girl.

She's been proudly wearing her badge all week.

Last night I went to the annual general meeting of the PTA at Emily's school.

There were quite a few parents of Emily's classmates there, keen to offer their help.

The meeting began with nominations for the key committee roles, which were all filled pretty quickly.

The one job that proved difficult to fill -- probably because of the workload -- was the social secretary.

A quick break for wine and nibbles later, and the volunteers to help organise events during the year started coming thick and fast.

I'm helping with the beetle drive.

My parents warned me of the dangers of the demon drink...!