Idris at 20 months!

Idris has begun to play with toys. He likes the baby dolls, wanting me to put clothes and shoes on and off them and covering them with blankets before kissing them fondly. The game degenerated soon afterwards into throwing the baby on the floor whereupon Daddy picked the baby up and made crying sounds and cuddled it which delighted Idris into fits of giggles before taking the baby and throwing it on the floor again - sigh!

Having said that, he shows real compassion when someone is upset - an anxious look comes onto his face or he copies the upset person's facial expression. Sometimes he is uncertain but then goes to the upset person and either pats them or cuddles them. It is very sweet, but no less than he gets when he is upset (except perhaps the copied facial expressions). He will also 'kiss better' if you ask him. He likes to be kissed better if he hurts a finger or toe, he will come over, pretend crying and hold out the offending digit until you kiss it then instantly stop crying and go off again!

He's very into clothes still and if he thinks no-one is looking will start putting his own clothes on, usually his trousers. The only problem is that he tries to put them on by putting his feet into the feet holes rather than the waist hole so some hilarious happenings have resulted from these attempts!

 He is beginning to connect words together to explain his meaning such as "cold - top, trousers" when it is bedtime and he is chilly without his pyjamas on. He also says "car - deep deep" because he wants to sit in the front and beep the horn, which I'm not sure the neighbours would find so amusing a second time!! He tells me when he's done a poo as well now but isn't any keener on having it changed and since the advent of him learning the word "no" about three weeks ago, we have had some tricky negotiations over getting dressed. Hence why he was outside one morning dancing in the snow in his pyjamas because 'no' he wouldn't get dressed, and 'no' he wouldn't put his coat on. I figured he'd realise it was cold pretty soon and come back for said coat, which he did!! Having tried out the power of "no" for a few days, he just uses it so say 'no' to things like more food or a drink now - phew!

 He loves to play jokes on people and will take their fork at dinner time and hide it behind his back with a big grin on his face! He's much more aware of who HE is now, pointing to himself when his clothes are being folded from the laundry basket, as well as naming every other family member's clothes. He has used the word 'mine' a few times as well as pointing to himself. He loves to jump with both feet off the ground, jump jump jump like a little kangaroo! I have also caught him standing on the sofa arm saying "two two two yay" and leaping off the arm onto the sofa cushions. He says two three times as it is the only number he says right now, although he knows it is for counting as he counts things in books and if I pick up two pieces of fruit for example, he will say 'two'. His other hilarious saying is "din din din din din din din din ba ba" which is copied from the girls saying 'dinner dinner dinner dinner dinner batman', accompanied by kangaroo jumping and general excitement whilst I serve the food up!! He had a huge tantrum one day staying with family as he was hungry for his breakfast and they didn't realise. I said to Dewi that he needed to learn a word for 'hungry' or 'food' so he could say what he needed. The very next day early in the morning he grabbed my hand, pulled me into the kitchen, pointed to the cupboard and said 'din din' very firmly, indicating that he wanted his breakfast - problem solved!!

He has started to sit and play with toys a little now - I picked this farm up second hand for him as I noticed he was looking for little animals to play with in another toy set the girls have. He really likes it and we play often. He has also got more into books too. For the first time today he asked me to read the same book four times, it has text in rather than just pictures and words and he listened carefully all four times before having had enough. Admittedly it is a book about making noise, one of his favourite subjects, but still, a special moment!! He still isn't into veg much - he will eat pasta sauces with chunks of courgette, aubergine, peppers, onions, celery, carrots etc in but won't eat steamed veg plain from the plate. Then one day at a friend's house for lunch, he saw a bowl of black olives and said 'grapes' and asked for one, I passed him the bowl expecting him to spit it straight out and instead he ate it followed swiftly by seven more! i was very amused that he won't eat carrots or tomatoes but will eat strongly flavoured olives!!

His new words this month are f(r)uit, bag, George (the baby of a friend of mine whom he is very keen on!), pancake, mine, d(r)awer, c(l)ose, 'earis' meaning 'here it is', Sam (his cousin), g(r)apes, no, down, up, head, toe, bott(om) (which he finds very amusing, especially making bubbles in the bath!), for(k), pee(ka)boo, c(l)ock, pig, (sh)eep (pointed at from the car window after seeing them at close range at a farm), (Dad)cu (his Welsh grandfather), table.

And the really amazing news this month? He refused breast milk and demanded JUICE at five o clock one morning - was not impressed when I returned with water from the bathroom and repeated his request firmly for JUICE!!!! He's now back to preferring my milk!!!!