Thursday 18th October 2012 - Eighteen months old

Eighteen months already buddy.  It's beginning to speed up!

We've crammed an absolutely huge amount of stuff in to these past six months, and been on some real adventures with our favourite people. We've had day trips all over, from Christmas Tree Farm (misleading name) and local parks with the likes of Uncles Perry and Liam. We've had day trips into Central London to see Aunty Donna and Uncle Perry for lunch when they have been working and the weather has been temperate. We've had memorable occasions for this year, being things such as the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the hosting of the 2012 Olympics right here in London. Your grandmother is very patriotic, so therefore we had to attend a Jubilee BBQ at her house and also bring her back a souvenir from the Olympic Village, as your father had managed to secure two tickets to watch the women's hockey! We very much enjoyed watching the sport and it will always be nice to know that we were one of the lucky ones that were able to attend. 

 

We have had a pretty miserable summer I'm afraid, so there was nowhere near as much outdoor exploration as I had hoped for. We managed to cram in BBQ's whenever was possible, at Uncle Perry's house and Aunt Chloe's too, and we even got in a day trip down to Bognor Regis where Aunty Karen's family have a caravan. I took you to visit a toddler play centre that I used to go to as a small child, and it is still thriving even now, 20 plus years later. The 1 o'clock club in Battersea Park was somewhere I was taken to when I was your age, and to think that it is now somewhere I can take you is lovely. Who knows, maybe in twenty plus years it might still be there too. Although it is obviously going to be way into your thirties that you even think about girls and children so that really won't matter. Isn't that right?

We've had visits closer to home, with people like your Aunty Paige, Uncles Tom and Harvey coming over and even staying for the night, and Aunty Dawny visiting with lovely little Lucas, who isn't so far behind you in getting a bit too grown up! We've had my friend Chris over with his lovely little boy Zac, who is one of the nicest little children I think you have met. We had two days of exploring two indoor children's play areas called Eddie Catz and Kidspace. Zac is friendly and affectionate, and very nice to play with, and you were really upset when it came to the time for him to leave. But I'm sure we'll see him again soon, and seeing as he's much better behaved than his father, he is welcome whenever he likes.

 

 We've also done our fair share of visiting others, and have popped in on varying occasions to see Aunty Donna and her parents, and grandad and Great Aunt Rita and her family. You do your best to show off and be a little entertainer on these occasions, but you do love a bit of attention so I expect nothing less.  

We've also had some fun days out, one to London Zoo, and one to Chessington World of Adventures. Admittedly you were the one who least enjoyed Chessington out of us and Uncles Tom and Harvey. You only went on two rides, the flying elephants and the Bubble Works. You cried throughout your turn on the flying elephants and then sobbed while you watched helplessly as Uncles Tom and Harvey had a go. You cried real tears, and just kept wailing 'No Tom, down!'. Any ride which you could see anyone of us on was too much for you and you would repeat your wail until it was over with, when you would then begin to recover. It is safe to say that you are far from an adrenalin junkie at this moment in time my sweet boy. I feel that I have no worries about you turning up with a motorbike as your new ride any time soon.

I suppose out of all the events that have occurred over the past six months, there was one that stood out as being the best and most important. You had your first ever holiday abroad, and I couldn't think of a better group of people to have gone with, nor hoped that it could have been more successful. 

From the 14th July, until the 21st, we went to Portugal for your first holiday abroad. We went with Aunty Donna and Uncle Matt, Aunty Karen and Uncle Liam, and Aunty Chloe and Uncle Perry. We stayed in the resort of Albufeira, which oddly was the first place I ever went on holiday abroad, and we stayed in an all inclusive hotel. 

You were an absolute dream. From being woken up in the early hours to make the trip to the airport all the way through to arriving at the hotel you were so well behaved. So much so, that when we landed at Faro Airport a couple came up to your dad and said that you had been so well behaved and entertaining on the plane that they had decided you were the best behaved baby on the plane. This behaviour continued throughout the holiday, and we very rarely saw you moan about anything. If you did it was only if you were tired or hungry, and those were easily fixable, and then the only other time was when we tried to pry you out of the swimming pool. The swimming lessons that you had done up to that point had certainly achieved their aim of making you comfortable in the water, because you loved being in the pool. It was freezing cold, and even when you were shivering, you would steadfastly refuse to get out. But once we managed to distract you with something else we won you over.

 

 

 

 

 We had various people come up to us over the week and tell us what a happy baby you were, and how well behaved you were, and it was really lovely and satisfying for us to know that we weren't just biased parents, we actually had a little star. 

This was one of my favourite holidays that I have ever been on. The group that we went with was just perfect. I loved that we had some of the people who are most close to you to be in the memory of one of your big firsts, and I think that they all enjoyed being there and spending the time with you too. The only person missing was Aunty Claire, but I'm pretty sure she'll be there for the next one anyway so we'll make up for it then! We had some great adventures, including visiting a water park and an animal park where we both saw our first dolphin show. We spent time at the beach, which you most definitely did not like, as the water was quite choppy and you aren't keen on loud noises, so the crashing waves had you running in the opposite direction as fast as my legs could get you. We lazed about by the pool, and enjoyed exploring the new and old towns, and you were just so easy to look after the entire time. Bravo cheeky boy.

 

There are definitely some big things that have gone on with our nearest and dearest in the last six months. It seems as though there has been something in the air which has made many of them begin to almost grow up a little bit, and different folks are doing different things to achieve this. For most its very early days, but pretty much all of our close ones will have news for our next update. I shall leave the secret details until then, but expect many changes including addresses, dates and numbers!

We've had some momentous new things this past six months, and due to your mobility increasing, we have managed to try out some new things that have been real fun. You had your first haircut on the 8th June. After various people commenting that it was too long (perhaps it was a little messy) I relented and we went for the chop. We managed to get through it relatively unscathed, and the hairdresser bribed you with biscuits so I think that everybody was happy throughout the process. You had a little cut off, and I've kept your first lock to mark the occasion. You looked very cute and smart afterwards, so we've since been for a second too. I still let it grow quite a bit before we shorten it, because I do love you with a little bit of a mop top.

You have also been having your swimming lessons every Sunday, and you have come along very well. You are very comfortable in the water, and have even picked up skills like holding on to the pool edge unaided, so I think that these are very much worth the money and time. There are occasions when you absolutely love going, and there are also occasions when you do nothing but moan and generally make it hard work for your father, but in general you seem to not mind being almost drowned on a weekly basis. These are still occasions where I prefer not to be there, and on the off chance that I have been (due to your dad being too drunk the night before to even think of driving - yes, he was a lightweight back in these here days Olly) I have seen your father do things with you that have made me think that you are about to die, and I have wanted to physically hurt him a lot. So I still avoid these lessons like the plague, but Grandad Ron, when home, often accompanies you guys, so it's become a real boys outing.

We do have our own fun during the week too. Since you became mobile, I decided to enrol us in some classes to encourage you to move about and possibly pick up some new skills along the way. It's also a great way to get you to interact with other little ones, as there's slim pickings with children of the same age as you within your father's and my social groups. So now on a Tuesday morning we go to Caterpillar Music lessons, where you are encouraged to sing nursery rhymes and play percussive instruments and learn actions to songs. You tend to be a bit of a ringleader in these classes Olly, and there has been more than one occasion when it has not just been the group leader running the show. You definitely make sure to let everybody know when part of the class is boring and you think it needs livening up. You also recruit others to assist you with your disturbance. Sometimes the class descends into chaos when a troupe of you run off in various directions, being chased by frazzled mums who look at you like the devil incarnate for leading the other astray. You are living up to your nickname of monkey Oliver, that's for sure.

On a Wednesday morning, things are very different. This is when we attend Tumble Tots. Tumble Tots is a group that is very physical, with all manner of equipment set up for you to clamber all over and perfect your movements and physical abilities. You have become a fan of the climb through tunnel, and the trampoline, although you still haven't quite worked out gravity's defining factors, or the fact that you need to lift both feet at the same time in order to jump. You are much more occupied within this class, so there is much less of you being able to conjure up mischief. You have improved so much as a result of this class, and you even walk away and have me copy some of the activities at home, such as the roly poly. We now have to roly poly you off of most surfaces, and we have also had to purchase you your own tunnel, which is often set up in the middle of the front room.

You've also had your first taste of life with females while attending these classes. Halfway through the last term, a new girl began attending called Isobel. She is thirteen months old, blonde, cute, dimples. Apparently you have taken quite a shine to her, because at her second lesson you decided to accost her as she was cruising past the soft play mat and pull her in for a lingering embrace. It turns out that you were right with your thought that there might be some attraction there, because before we knew it, you were both steadfastly refusing to move from the mat or end your canoodling session which involved plenty of cuddling and even a good few kisses. After managing to finally separate you for a few minutes to take advantage of the rest of the equipment set up for you, you would both end up finding each other and repeating your funny business. Isobel would walk up to you and go all bashful and giggle, and you would reward her with a smooch. I thought that perhaps this was the start of something special, but no. Towards the end of the lesson I caught you behind the back of the climb through tunnel with another girl called India, smooching your little faces off. You'd better be cutting all of this business out buster!

We have also taken full advantage of our annual membership to Kidspace. We try to go at least once a week, and this is a much larger area for you to run amok in, with all sorts of extras thrown in such as a ball pit with a loader and tipper, a sensory zone, and a soft play climbing area. You run around like a child possessed here, and really let off steam, and I am just grateful that we both get some exercise and I get a baby that sleeps well throughout the night after!

In the past six months, you have developed some very good habits that should be mentioned here. You have decided to take an active interest in tidying up, and will often be found putting your wet wipes away after a nappy change, or asking to put something in the bin when you have finished with it. You ask to do the cleaning when we have finished eating and you are turning out to be a dab hand with a wet wipe, even when there may not necessarily be a reason for said cleaning.

You have also become interested in attempting to feed yourself at mealtimes. You try very hard with your fork and spoon, both of which you can name and identify now, and you also like to have a go with a cup too. The latter object there is probably given to you on a much less frequent basis at the moment if I'm honest Olly, because quite frankly you can make a splendid mess with just the fork and spoon. If we throw in water, well it just gets real ugly, and I'm too squeamish to be dealing with big food explosions like that.

There has also come a time in the last six months where you have decided that a daily visit to 'Nanny's 'Ouse' as you call it, is mandatory. At some point in the afternoon we HAVE to make a stop there, no matter for how short an amount of time, and there are events that must occur during your visit no matter what. It goes a little like this:

We will pull up onto the driveway, and you must be lifted out of the car and placed onto the driveway. You must be allowed to walk to the door, and I must knock. Not you, knocking is beneath you. You patiently wait until Nanny Jean opens the door, upon which you launch into an incomprehensible tirade berating her for the state of her doormat. You inspect it closely while doing so, kneeling down and pointing at the various pieces of dirt ingrained into it. Nanny Jean must then carry you over the doorstep, because of course extending your legs to enter and step up is beneath you too. Once you have entered the house, and I mean the second Nanny Jean turns around with you in her arms to walk into the house, you immediately bellow either 'BISCUIT!!!' or 'CAKE!!!'. Nanny Jean is expected to oblige to the command accordingly. You will then enter the front room with goodies in hand and spend the next hour performing all of the following actions multiple times is no particular order:

A) Desecrate Nanny's curtains that hang down to the floor. Wipe various fluids and melted chocolates on them, and attempt to drag them down until Nanny chases you away from them. Wait for her to become engaged in another activity before launching another assault on them. Repeat.

B) Drag Nanny out into the garden no matter what the weather and insist on inspecting everything that lies within the grounds.

C) Do a cursory check of the entire ground level of the house, ensuring that everything is still in exactly the same place as it was yesterday.

D) Attempt to climb the stairs, change your mind halfway up and slide back down on your backside.

E) Demand that Nanny finds your counting book, and insist that she count everything in the pages. Repeat again and again and again and...

Speaking of books, you absolutely love them, and of course I in turn absolutely love that you do. You have your favourites, in particular a large picture book filled with animals which I am directed to read to and with you at least a dozen times a day. I have to be honest Olly, and say that when you are older I will derive much pleasure from destroying this book, because It does drive me wild having to look through it so many times in a 24 hour period. However, you are fantastic at identifying your animals, even totally obscure ones like meercat and kangaroo and cheetah, that no kid your age really pays much attention to. So I suppose all this torture is worth it for now. But I'm gonna do bad things to that book later Olly, I promise.

Tying in with bad things is some of the less pleasant attributes that you've acquired recently. Namely your attempts at tantrums. Now as luck would have it, at the moment we have a pretty good hold on your tantrums and I'm okay at heading one off before it really gets started right now. But there have been occasions where you've gone into full blown meltdown, and my it isn't pretty. We get some floor headbutting, some slapping, some biting, and you give it some welly. You've got about six months in which I recommend that you start to diffuse yourself when these situations arise Olly, because up until two I can let you get away with it(ish) because you are still too young(ish) to understand. But after your birthday all bets are off dude. I'm coming at you with a petrol pump if I even see you start to lower your head towards a hard surface or bare your gnashers like a little Jack Russell. It will be on, and I will win. Just ask your Aunty Donna.

When thinking of something that you have most definitely been good at over the last six months there is only one thing that comes to mind. Sleeping of course. Dear sweet Olly, you have been a dream. You wake up usually just before eight, and by eleven o'clock you are ready for a nap. You doze until around twelve or half past, and then wake up just in time for lunch. By half past three you are ready for a second nap, which you will take advantage of until about five. You wake for your dinner and then by seven you will be asking for 'bot bot and night night'. You go off to bed with dad, have a bottle and book read to you, and then off you trot to the merry land of nod for it all to be repeated the following day. The only exceptions to this routine are when you are poorly, or teething, or something equivalent, so we have been extremely lucky for the majority of the time. Thinking back to how long it took us to get to the point where you slept through the night makes me think that we have definitely earned this period of rest, but then I met a mother in your Tumble Tots group who confessed that her 22 month old daughter had not slept through the night for even one night, ever. I quickly stopped moaning and just thought you were wonderful (while wondering if the woman needed sectioning as she was heavily pregnant again). There have actually been times when I have tried to keep you awake, as after some of your classes you will be ready to nod off straight away. I always try to get you home before you do so, just because I don't like the thought of having to disturb you to move you once you're snoozing. I have methods in which to do this, which are unconventional to some. I try to sing to you, sometimes rap to you. That's right, your mum is down with the ghetto. Ahem. Anyway, the other drivers definitely notice when I starting rapping Missy Elliot to you, or even giving it some welly to Jungle Is Massive (look them up online, old songs for me, let alone you).

One of the most exciting developments that has occurred over the last six months has been with your movement. You have literally become a different child in this space of time. From the beginning of April to now you have come on leaps and bounds and have mastered it all. We began with you not walking or crawling, or pulling yourself up, and quite frankly Olly, you were beyond lazy when it came to these things. It even got to the point where I had begun to worry about whether or not you were going to meet the milestones that you should be. But then I guess that you realised that there was much mischief to be had when you started to get about by yourself and it all went from there. We began by starting to walk, tentatively and only when someone had hold of your hand. You would steadfastly refuse to move if somebody let go of your hand, and you weren't interested in any of the transitions that you needed to do to get to that point, such as sitting yourself up, or standing up. You had to be lifted into position, and that was that. Slowly but surely, and with a lot of badgering from us, you began to take maybe up to 5 steps by yourself in between to inanimate objects, but anything more than that faced major protests. So I eventually let your dad take over, and his blunt 'you will walk, here's a shove to get you going' style worked wonders.

 

It was on holiday that he managed to get you to do it for the very first time, which again provides another reason for why your first holiday abroad became very memorable.  You started to do it halfway through the trip, and you would set off, and blindly panic the entire time you were doing it until you grabbed on to something (chairs, strangers, literally anything).  You still hadn't attempted any of the transitional moves by this point either, so you had gone from no action to full pelt all in one step.  Over the past three months these moves have been mastered too, from crawling, which started just after the holiday, to eventually transitioning from sitting to standing.  The latter move has been the most entertaining, as sometimes you have used just about anything to pull yourself up, including your dad's boob.  Let it be known that there was enough to grab for you to stand.  That is all.  Now, and especially after the physical exertions during your Tumble Tots classes you are a full blown toddler, with the curiosity and inquisitiveness that comes with it landing me in all sorts of bother with you in absolutely everything.  It's tiring but bloody good fun.

Something in which you have excelled at since your birthday is language.  You have completely astonished me with the speed at which your language is developing and the clarity in your punctuation.  It is recommended that by the age of 18 months, children should be aiming for a milestone of between 6 and 20 words, and I did a quick list of the ones that I can think of off the top of my head that you say clearly and precisely, and I stopped at 150.  You know your animals, food, weather, clothes, names, objects, the list is endless. I can have a conversation with you about things I really shouldn't be able to.  When we go into the kitchen in the morning you demand your 'bowl' and 'spoon', you go to the fridge and point for the 'coldy milk'.  You tell me to 'mash mash' your weetabix, and then run into the front room screaming 'chair' ready to be fed.  Or you might not want cereal, so I'll be told 'beans on toast mummy' and you'll go and fetch the 'butter'. 

I can talk to you about the weather, a lot of which has been 'freezing' or 'windy' or 'raining' recently.  You know your hot from your cold, your up from your down.  You've even begun to string sentences together, and your latest was 'oh dinner all gone mummy'.  You weren't very happy at the time if I recall either. 

You have even begun to mock me with some of your vocabulary, in that when you are about to do something that you are not allowed to do, you look at me when you are on the brink of doing it, grin and go 'ah ah ah' in a sing song voice.  You've mastered 'oopsy daisy' for when you drop something, 'sorry' for when you bump into something, 'okey dokey' or 'okay' for when I ask you to do something that you maybe don't want to do but will anyway.

You've definitely improved your ability to manipulate as your vocabulary has grown too.  Nowadays, when you have done something naughty, and you realise it, you run for me, and start asking for 'kisses' or 'cuddles mummy', and you've already realised that this usually means that your behaviour will be instantly forgotten and you've gotten away with it.  Shame on you Olly, for abusing your mother's need for affection from you.

Nursery rhymes have become a big hit for you, and you are very good at the motions for The Wheels On The Bus and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.  The Grand Old Duke of York is another favourite, but for this one you require me to sit on the floor and lean forward for 'when they were down they were down' while you throw yourself on my back and rise and fall accordingly.  If there are times during the day when I might be in another room to you, and therefore out of sight, you will yell 'Mummy!' and I will yell 'Olly!' and so long as you can hear me, well that's alright with you.  We might do this every two minutes, but that's the way you like it.

We have encountered one small problem with your words, and that is one word which you use, which is 'nana' for carrot.  No matter how many times you have been told that it is a carrot, it has stuck as a 'nana'.  You also use 'nana' for banana, and we can ask you what both are at the same time, and you will point to each one individually and call them both 'nana'.  Then you'll look at us at though we are really stupid. Seems like this one is going to stick regardless of what we do. 

Carrots are also one of the endless things that you love to devour.  You really are a very good eater, and only when you are poorly will we see any signs of fussiness.  Your favourites seem to be spinach, cheese, baby corn, carrots and apples to name a few.  You are definitely fond of your cake, biscuits and yogurts too, but pretty much anything goes.  There are even occasions when you have decided to try things others might not, like blue tack which was hanging wooden animals on your fireplace, and crayons.  My dear, you do like to try a crayon.  You're not very fussy with the colours either, everyone is worth a try.  Because of your varied diet, and your vested interest in food, this is also one of the subjects in which your language is very advanced.  You can identify a plethora of different food items, and enjoy eating everything you name.

All that eating has clearly led to you growing nice and big and strong too.  We measured you at eighteen months and you have reached the grand old height of 79 centimetres, which I'm pretty sure is at least half of Aunty Sarah's height.  Keep that up and by the time you reach four you'll be towering above her.  We also have a good 12 teeth that have made their way through during the last six months. 

The past six months have been some of the most rewarding of my life.  Most of the difficulties that I had as a new mother have now dissipated, and all of the hard jobs, like waking during the night and constant feeding and not getting a whole lot back in return are now long gone memories.  You are fast becoming a sweet, affectionate and kind boy with a voracious appetite for knowledge and learning.  You make my job so much easier, just by being so clever and smart and easy to talk to and explain things to.  You want to help with things, and do things and you enjoy almost everything that we do.  You are kind to other children and other people, and luckily so far the only person you bash when frustrated is me! On the whole you are so well behaved and happy, and it genuinely just makes me proud of you.  We're getting to the stages where you do something new almost every day, and it's almost every day that I catch myself just staring at you for a while, wondering how on earth I managed to make something so perfect as you.  My favourite moments used to be ones that involved alcohol and various genres of music, but nothing compares to quiet moments on the sofa, with you wrapped up on my lap, thumb in your mouth and a feeling that everything, just for that one moment is pretty amazing.  I love you kiddo, not sure if you'll ever know just how much.