Today's firsts

(1) I gutted and de-scaled a fish (if that's the right term) - very tasty once cooked with rosemary, lemon and garlic, but I didn't entirely enjoy the cleaning process. Not sure we'll be doing that again. Fishmonger fish only!

(2) We took down our first Christmas tree today, though we have rehoused both sets of pretty fairy lights so that they still light up our living room. Christmas is officially over and we're into the New Year, our boy's second year (technically), and my birth month. Another year older and so much wiser...

(3) I swear that baby boy is speaking. I hear the word 'hungry' (and always it is appropriate) and I am sure I am hearing the early sounds for 'I love you'.

(4) The cot has now been moved into our room so baby boy can be in his next-size-up bed. I find I feel sad, the first stage of newborn and infancy clearly gone. He's growing so quickly, his wrists fatter than his hands and his thighs so rolling in wrinkles that it's becoming difficult to clean the poo out of them!

(5) Another sign of baby boy growing bigger - we used teething powder for the first time (with miraculous instantaneous results - a powder described as 'baby crack' by some reviewers). I forget who gave us the packet (Ashton and Parsons), but THANK YOU. It's wonderful.

Our baby boy is growing teeth...soon he'll be growing a beard and all this will be over. I cherish each and every day with him, knowing that this time is going so quickly. I love him more each day, the more I get to know who he is - a little person who is super chilled out like his daddy, a little boy who is extremely sociable, but needs a lot of his own space and downtime, and, like his mama, a curious little creature who loves looking around and examining all parts of his world, constantly chattering away with a huge gummy grin on his face, seemingly convinced that we understand every word he utters. My beautiful, innocent, charming little man. :-)