20 months today!

He certainly is!

Writing about someone/thing regularly is like when you see a person everyday; you don't always notice the changes you would if you only saw them periodically. Being able to go back and look through these pages to see what Isaac was doing a certain amount of time ago is truly great. I've never kept a written record of anything for this long; sure we take photographs and smile when we flick through them, but to see, in black and white, your own words describing sensations and emotions from events past is really quite special. I'm so grateful that it is so easy these days to keep loved ones up to date with things they may not otherwise hear about entirely, proven by Nanna's many trips away and Grandad's recent four month trip to India (from which he has now safely returned - welcome back Grandad!)

Seven weeks ago Isaac was walking confidently at home, but not so well out and about. Now he's off! Everywhere! Properly! When he wants to go faster he does this funny forward lean that reminds me a little of Good Robot Bill & Ted. He much prefers walking over being carried, but still asks to be carried occasionally. It's (understandably) usually when he's tired or unsure of somewhere. We use the hip seat more than the carrier now, preferring it for its ease in getting Isaac on & off quickly while he's transitioning to independence. We still use the carrier for long periods, e.g.: our walk on Dartmoor; we used it successfully on my back for the first time then too. Now he's bigger the back position seems to feel better than it did before. Hip position still dubious.

We made the decision to not use reigns: we are fortunate that much of our outdoor high street is pedestrianised and that many of the pavements in town are wide. Isaac doesn't like walking along side busy roads too much yet; he doesn't really run off or make us chase him when we're out (give it time, you say) and he knows to stay close to us so the idea of them seemed a bit redundant. He's developed the kid thing of walking into people's paths which I guess I did and you did and every child that's learning to walk tall in the world does. Most people aren't bothered by it which is nice.

The major development has been his words and little phrases. It's all very exciting! He's been babbling Isaac speak for months and months and month and his grown up words have been brewing for a while, but now they're tumbling out of his little mouth! Shoes! I wan s-tory! Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! (Rinny - possibly his favourite word) Am fiiiiished! (I'm finished) Nanny! Daddy! Mummy! Byyyyyyyyyyyye! No! Mmmm! (yes) Brush teeeee! (brush teeth) Fish! (thank you Tracey :-D) Toast! House! Down! Out! Door! Obviously the babbling continues which is just too cute, but it's lovely to hear him use grown up words to help him understand us.

A few miscellanea:

Nap times are still settling. Until today, for about two or three months, Isaac has had only one, two hour day time nap either before or after lunch which has been fine. Today he's had a morning nap of about three hours, but I'm not convinced he'll last until bedtime! What is it they say? A well rested baby sleeps better at night than a tired one? We shall see...again.

He has started to gingerly climb out of his car seat on his own.

He found his nose the other day. Delightful!

I had my first night away from Isaac four weeks ago when I went to stay with a friend in London. It was all good and nothing went wrong, not did either of us feel anxious about it at all. Win!

Isaac is now officially dog biscuit giver. No complaints from Rinny since the hand over.

He likes to flash his belly at us! It's so funny and he knows it's funny which makes it even funnier!

He's had his first proper haircut.

We've abandoned snacks completely. I'm not really sure why we included them in his daily eating regime, other than the girls have always had them and our HV said we should. However, we get on better without them. The End. (©RR)

On the whole things are going well right now (phew!) The sun has been shining lots which keeps us outdoors and busy. Isaac continues to make us chuckle and smile regularly and helping him learn about his world is staggeringly brilliant!

We're all really looking forward to summer; winter seemed awfully long this year. We've got lots of things planned so I'm sure it'll fly by at a rate of knots. The kids (and us if we're honest) can't wait for this year's Just So Festival. It'll be totally different now Isaac is walking and he'll be two weeks shy of his second birthday. Hopefully some other festivals too, if finances prove favourable, and definitely some camping, barbecues, visits with friends and days out in general thrown in for good measure.