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: