our affectionate bilingual son

As we got in from a walk yesterday, Simon said to Marc, "Je t'aime", and then to me, "I love you".

*melt*

si-mum!

It's been a while since I've given news specifically about Simon so get ready for some proud-parent stuff :o)

Simon seems to lost most of his baby looks over the last few months, and with more hair and less baby chubbiness he looks like a right little boy. Of course, it will probably take the arrival of the new baby to make us realise just how far from babyhood he now is!

He is active and engaging, and his report from nursery last year still describes him very well: "happy, loud, energetic". After being very uncuddly (too busy!) for the first year and a half of his life, he has started giving cuddles in the last few months ... but we still have to wait for him to come to us for them!

He loves: playgrounds, sticks, stones, puddles, tractors, Postman Pat ("papa Pat"!), Duplo, rice, porridge, cake (what a surprise!), grapes, Marmite (yes!) and looking at photos of his cousin Andrew (or anyone else, but Andrew is a special favourite!).

He doesn't like: most vegetables (sigh!), mittens, open doors, closed curtains, having his nappy changed in the morning, and having to get out of bed at any time of day!

His language is coming on very well - both of them! A typical remark is one we heard this morning in Tesco when he saw a picture of a cow: "Cow! Vache! Vache! MOO!" He often says the name of something in one language then repeats it in the other. He doesn't really put sentences together yet, but is capable of telling us stories of things that have happened to him, for example he still talks about a hot air balloon he saw in September, "Balloon ... gone .... sky!" (while pointing out of the window in the direction that it went). He loves knowing people's names, and is very good at recognising them in photos (and is also very good at persuading us to look through photos on the computer!).

He isn't used to being around lots of other children - at nursery last year there were never more than 5 of them in his classroom - so that is a bit of a challenge. I've been taking him to a mums-and-toddlers group at church, with about 40 mums and 40 toddlers each time, and he gets quite clingy, though he is starting to gain confidence and leave my side to play with things. Crèche on Sundays seems to be getting worse - last time he screamed when I left him ... and then burst into tears again when I came back to collect him (only until he was in my arms). Oh well, it's all a learning process, I suppose!

We had tried to explain to Simon that there is a baby in my tummy ... but he then seemed to think that everyone had one! In the last couple of days though he has started to put his hand on the bump and say "Baby!" so maybe it's sinking in ... it is a bizarre concept for an adult though, so I'm not surprised if he finds it weird!

And here he is:

life as we know it

We are settling down into our life in Bedford, determined to make the most of the time and opportunities we have here.

Marc has applied for a couple of jobs, one of which he is very interested in (as an assistant dietician at the hospital). Simon and I have been going along to a couple of mother and toddler groups and are getting to know some other mums and kids.

At church we have been placed in a home group (our first meeting is tomorrow!) and we were asked to lead a workshop in the evening service yesterday evening, after going along to the Newcomers' Tea. With these different activities we have been meeting more people and putting faces to names. We have been coming to Christ Church whenever we've been in Bedford for the last four years, but when you meet someone then don't speak to them again for months, it's hard to build a friendship or even remember their name! It feels good to be able to be part of the everyday life of the church for a while.

I continue to be healthy and the pregnancy is going well. The midwife I saw today said things are “wonderfully normal”! I get out for a walk most days because of Simon – he really needs to get out of the house, use up some energy and see animals/tractors/postboxes/phoneboxes every day – and we've been fortunate not to have too much rain so far.

Mum is marking ('O' Level Maths – yes, that's right, 'O' Level, from Singapore) this month so we have been doing the shopping, cooking and washing, which also gives our days some purpose.

Linked to that, I have at last realised one of my ambitions – we have started to order a veg box! It's great to have vegetables delivered from a local farm, and to have a good selection and some vegetables I'd never cooked with before (swede and squash) to give me a bit of a challenge. Here is our first veg box:

change of plans

We are back in Bedford again, and will be here probably until next May. We haven’t got 100% of our monthly support raised yet (we’re currently at 55%) and anyway have been advised by SIM Benin-Togo to wait until after our baby’s birth before leaving. They are concerned about the stress of moving abroad at the end of my pregnancy, and warned us that there is currently a shortage of doctors at the Evangelical hospital. The slightly frustrating thing is that by the time we get a passport for the baby (due mid-Jan), the hot season will have begun in Benin, and we’ve been told not even to consider moving out there before the end of it, in May.

We do believe that this is God’s will, and not just “chance”. It was good to be aiming to leave in November, as it made us get on well with preparations for leaving and with our support raising. But we believe that while it is right for us to make plans, we also need to allow God to guide our steps, and that does seem to have happened in a very clear way.

So what this means for now is that we have at least six months in the UK which we weren’t expecting to have. It is a bit of a limbo time, not having our own family home (though very grateful to be able to stay at my parents’) and not having a real sense of purpose. However, Marc is looking for temporary work, and Simon and I are starting to build up a social life! At least now that we’ve stopped moving around every week or so it becomes more possible to have a weekly routine and to build up friendships.

We are very happy to be able to get more involved with our church here, Christ Church Bedford. They have always welcomed us when we visited in the past and were very helpful supplying beds when we got married and had friends and family over from France. They are going to be supporting us in our work in Benin, so this is a good opportunity to get to know people better before we leave.