We’ve had several new developments over the last two weeks, but the biggest is probably Sprogzilla’s emerging language skills. He has picked up more new words since the last growth spurt than ever before and I don’t think it will be long before we hear something new almost every day.

The strangest word he has learned to say is ceiling. We were all sitting at the dining table the other day and noticed he kept pointing up and grinning. Goodness knows what was so funny up there, but we explained the name and he picked it up amazingly fast. We also have “nana” (banana), which he asks for after his porridge every evening. Then there’s “toes” and “belly”, both of which he will point out on either us or himself, and sometimes he will say “bed” when he is tired. He also has a cuddly dinosaur in his cot which he named Ernie.

I never fail to be amazed at how quickly he learns by observation now. We bought him a toy toaster the other day and after one instance of watching me push the toast down and turn the timer dial, he did it himself! This evening I showed him how the light switches work and he instantly picked that up too! His fascination with anything that opens and closes continues, now he can close the living room door behind him by pulling on the wood part between the glass panels. He has tried to put his socks on when being dressed and associates shoes with going outdoors.

Walking continues to go from strength to strength, in fact I’ve hardly seen him crawl at all this last week. It helps that he can now finally stand from sitting so he no longer needs to crawl somewhere to pull himself up. He is blazingly fast on his feet too and will run if given a good bit of space to pick up speed. We’re having a few falls though as he is not yet paying attention to what’s under his feet.

Dinner time has always been a pleasant experience for the most part. However, Sprogzilla has never understood that when he’s full he can just leave the remaining food on the plate. Instead, he tends to lob it all on the floor and then gets very upset if I tell him off with a simple “no”. Now he has decided it’s fun to feed us his leftovers – daddy ended up having cold garlic chicken and broccoli today! He can also drink from a cup or glass without spilling anything, until he gets distracted that is.

He now brushes his teeth with a little toothbrush and it looks so damn cute! We enjoyed a sweet little game of peekaboo yesterday as he ducked down into the bath and popped back up like a Jack-in the-box, emphatically blurting “boo!”. Still no luck using the potty, but he does come and let one of us know as soon as he’s filled his nappy so I don’t think progress is far away.

He has also learned to copy daddy strumming his lips with his finger – except he brings both his hands up and flexes his fingers instead. At bedtime, he gives us the sweetest little kisses and giggles coyly. I love putting him down at night and watching him snuggle into his duvet after nursing. He sometimes likes to do these bizarre cot gymnastics though, where he sticks his bum in the air and nearly stands on his head!

We’ve had a couple of problems along with the exciting new developments. I guess Sprogzilla’s little brain is buzzing because he is a nightmare at going down for naps right now. Several times this week he has refused his second nap and been so exhausted at bedtime that he wakes more frequently from over-tiredness. He is also getting up for the day up to two hours earlier than normal. While this is still considerably better than three months ago, it makes me a bit stressed at times and I fear that he will regress back to his old sleep patterns.

The other issue is tantrums – they are becoming more frequent as the little guy gets frustrated with things he cannot do and annoyed over restrictions placed on him. Even the simple act of closing a door to prevent him going into a forbidden room is enough to set off the tears and foot stomping. This is only to be expected as his desire for independence grows, but it sure is taxing….