It seems like I’ve waited a lifetime to be able to say
that. For some reason “in a week” or “in
three days” just doesn’t quite sound right.
It doesn’t sit right. Tomorrow
however, that I find has a lovely ring to it.
It was the first thought in my head when I woke up and no doubt the boys
are going to hear it a hundred times over the next 24 hours.
Whilst Percy and I remain almost exactly as we were when
Mark last left us – both balls of determined stubbornness, Alby has seen a bit
of change.
Yesterday, for the first time, in addition to shaking his
head to signal disagreement, he started saying “no no” too. The head shake has been around for a good few
weeks and comes out quite often, despite me trying to follow the advice of all
parenting books to keep its use to a minimum.
(The one exception being when he prods the TV or bashes it with his toys
– having heard of horror stories from A&E I want no part in when baby and
TV crash together.) Shall we go for a
bath? Shake of the head. Shall we go in the pushchair? Shake of the
head. Would you like some yoghurt? Shake
of the head. Yes indeed, that sense of
self is coming along nicely. 
Alby’s favourite thing is still being chased around the
house / garden / anywhere. Nowadays
though it happens to the beat of “Ready steady go”. In fact a lot of things happen to the beat of
Ready Steady Go – yesterday whilst dusting he stood in front of the bean bag
going “Daadii….duhdi..DO!” before falling face first into it. Which he found hilarious and repeated for a
good ten minutes or so. Later, splashing
in the bath occurred to the same rhythm.
As did reading his book (I’m not entirely sure how that works).
Whilst noises beginning with D are certainly the most
prolific, he now roars and growls along with images of lions and bears (and
ducks and, well any animal really).
I’m afraid Alby is a natural when it comes to the nagging
finger. So much so that I think it must
be genetic, some inherent trait. Why
else would I get a telling when putting on his shoes? He’ll settle himself on the bottom step to
have his shoes put on and all the while I’m putting his right shoe on he is
tapping his left with his magic finger and a “do do do do do”. “Okay Monkey, I’m getting to it.” “Do do do
do do.”
In addition to the nagging finger he’s developed a few more
signs. The most common being a fist to
the side of the head means bedtime (never used for himself, but it appears
quite often when putting his dolly to bed) and a hand held out and shoulders
shrugged for “where”, “how”, “when” or “what”.
In fact, this appears not only when you ask a question but as he tries
to work out the answer. Randomly shaking
the head is the sign for parrot – I blame In the Night Garden for such.
He’s as much as a book worm as ever, but takes in more of the
books nowadays. The “Where’s my…” books
are no longer for touch and feel but rather for finding where the mouse is in
every page. In other books there are
different pictures to find before the page can be turned, usually focused on a
duck and/or teddy bear.
To all this he is the same Alby. He stomps his feet and flaps his hands when
excited, smiles and laughs and giggles when tickled on the chin. He cries when
sad and sometimes when tired and likes to eat yoghurt with his hands.
And in 24 hours my hero can see all this for himself.
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