Sunday 31st August
Everyone was up for most of the night last night - mostly it was Peter's fault and for a change had very little to do with me.

Today I have mostly been Practicing my crawling - there is a huge expanse of floor to cover here at Grandma's house and there are also many small nooks and crannies to get stuck in. I haven't even started exploring the garden yet but it looks like there are an awful lot of twigs to eat out there.

Saturday 30th August
I'm sorry to report that no sooner has one tiny little tooth poked it's way through my sore gums that another one is on its way. This time its the one on the other side of my two top front teeth and although it's not actually poking through just yet it is very very sore indeed. I'm lucky that there are so many people around who want to cuddle me.

Friday 29th August
I had a rather tricky night last night and therefore, vy extension, so did Mum, Dad, Grandma and Hannah, although Hannah says she only woke up once. Mum and Dad had the worst of it as I was able to aim my cries directly into their ears.

We went to visit some people in the afternoon and I was much admired by all and sundry. It's amazing how far a tiny smile will get you when you're under 1 year old.

Thursday 28th August
We're all at Grandma's house and at last I can practice my crawling properly. There is a wide expanse of floor to experiment on and lots of tiny nooks and crannies to investigate. I've found that it's best not to actually crawl into any actual nooks as I'm not very proficient at reversing yet. I suppose that it's the best way to learn anyway.

There are lots of lovely people here who are all very keen to try and cuddle me. Which is FANTASTIC! Smiles all round for everyone.

Wednesday 27th August
I've got two funny little red spots that have appeared just on the top of my cheeks. Mum and Dad thinkg that either I bashed myself when I took a little nosedive into the floor after a speed crawling attempt or I have some more teeeth coming true. O had hoped that Peter, who has 20 teeth was some kind of spikey mouthed freak and that I might get away withonly having 4. Sadly not I fear.

Tuesday 26th August
I have managed to pull myself up off the floor for the first time today and stand on my own two very sturdy little legs. I had to sit down again quite soon afterwards as the floor seems to have an undefeatable pull towwards my bottom. Still I experienced the heady heights of about two foot high for a few brief moments.

Grandad is here for a visit today. Initially I was a little bit suspicious but as he seems to have a little beard like Dad I'll let him hold on to me for a little while.

Monday 25th August
It seems like Dad must be on holiday as he hasn't vanished off to work yet. He's been letting me do a bit of standing up practice on his stomach. I'm not sure that he likes me jumping up and down very much but I've seen Peter doing much harder jumping and so far he seems to have survived. If I ever see Peter breaking Dad's tummy I'll know to go a bit easier on him.

We all went for a lovely picnic today where I nearly got to have some lunch. Unfortunately it started to rain before I could get my teeth into the delicious vegetable puree that was on offer today so my lunch had to be postponed until we could get somewhere a bit drier. I noticed that Peter managed to eat a banana and several other items which I didn't recognise before he'd even sat down. Once I get a few more of these teeth I'll be able to keep up with him.

Now that I've found a little bit of mobility Mum and Dad have found a kind of "holding pen" for me, which has insurmountable walls and a floor which I don't think I'll be able to tunnel through. The good thing about it is that any toys that get put in there with me will always be there and not mysteriously removed whenever I turn my back.

Sunday 24th August
I'm coming on in not quite literally leaps and bounds. I'm a lot faster today and Peter has been giving me a helping hand, although sometimes he pushes a little too hard on my bottom and I end up with my face in the carpet. That leads to a lot of crying and shouting.

I'm getting that old familiar feeling in my mouth that tells me that two more teeth are on their way - they haven't actually broken through yet but they are not far off. I'm chewing my finger a lot and there is an abundance of dribble.

Saturday 23rd August
I been doing a lot of crawling practice today. Although I'm already a lot better than I was yesterday I will still have to work on my technique - at the moment most of the forwards movement is accomplished by dragging myself forward by my fingers and then pulling my knees up to my chest. I believe that there is a technique that I can use that will be much more effective and far less tiring. Peter knows what it is, but he won't tell me at the moment because of the incident with his tower.

Friday 22nd August
Hoorah for me! I have learnt to crawl! There's no stopping me now, Peter is going to have to move his toys up to a really high place as I am now magnetically attracted to anything that he's playing with, and there's usually only one thought in my mind - FULL, TOTAL AND IRREVERSIBLE DESTRUCTION.

Thursday 21st August

I'm afraid that my wish for better health has not been fulfilled. I've still got a very sore throat and my nether regions have a certain unpleasant sting around and about them. On the plus side my voice has a very husky quality about it, which helps me out when I sing 'old man river'.

Wednesday 20th August

I'm still ill and i've been complaining about it nearly all day. The only time I actually managed to stop moaning was when Dad came home, I always stop moaning when he comes home if only to make it seem like Mum is making up her stories about me moaning. It seems to work too!

Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow or the next day. I'll be sure to keep you informed.

Tuesday 19th August

I went on a bus today - just for fun. It's the first time I've ever been on a bus and I fell asleep, which is only natural as I didn't get much sleep last night. Mum and Dad didn't get much sleep either - I made sure I gave them both some lovely big smiles to cheer them up. Dad in particular looked a bit grumpy.

I've got a very sore throat this morning and it's made my voice a little bit croaky. I'm sad to say that it's affected my singing quite a bit. I'm hoping that it will be better by tomorrow as I was planning on doing some singing in the afternoon.

Monday 18th August

I'm sorry to report that i'm still feeling terrible. I was awake for most of the night and I have a very sore throat, which is apparently very red inside. I have to keep drinking lots of unpleasant tasting medicine too, which is almost never any fun.

Sunday 17th August

I've been rushed to the doctors today. There wasn't any real kind of emergency, just a sad sad case of some white spots in my mouth that Mum thought the doctor should have a little look at. He said it wasn't too serious, but that I should have a little bit of medicine. I should add that I absolutely HATE having medicine. I usually try to spit most of it out. I almost always wish I hadn't spat it out because it usually runs into my neck crease. That's bad as it creates a sticky patch which annoys me all night.

Saturday 16th August

I'm going to be 7 months old tomorrow. It's not a particularly special birthday event as far as I know, but It does push me over the half way mark. I'm going to be nearer to being 1 than I am to 0.

We went to a farm today. As usual I was kept well from all of the animals. I like to maintain a safe distance as some of the animals mouths are bigger than my head, and that's not a good position to be in when you're only a small person.

Friday 15th August

Mum and Dad went out this evening and I got to spend the whole evening with Grandma. I thought I'd better stay wake for as long as possible to maximise my time with her. I did actually fall asleep but I managed to wake myself up when Grandma tried to put me into my bed. Eventually Mum and Dad came home, when of course I as perfectly happy to go to sleep.

Thursday 14th August
There was a small incident this morning concerning a mouthful of food and a sneeze. It might have been cough actually. Anyway, Mum's trousers happened to be in the way when the cough came out and sdaly the trousers in question were showered with small particles (and largeish blobs) of breakfast.

On the subject of food, I've noticed that at least one in every two mouthfuls of food is chin food, that is to say, food that's already been in my mouth once and sort of leaked out onto my chin. It's this very food that is repositioned on my spoon and poked back into my mouth. I sort of object to this. I've already rejected it once.

Wednesday 13th August
I'm sorry to report that I have been probably the grumpiest boy in the history of the world today. I got up really early again and this time, to my delight Mum took me downstairs to see Dad. We all had a lovely game together in the early early morning. I shan't blame my teeth this tims, although it seems likely that they are hurting quite a bit. I have this infernal heat to blame this time. I've spent the whole day dressed in a nappy - that's how hot it is. It's not exactly flattering and in certain extreme circumstances it can be quite dangerous. For others.

I'm so nearly crawling - although it looks mostly like I'm dragging myself along my my fingernails. I can get from A to B, but it can take me quite a while to get there, so don't wait for me as if I were a bus, because I'll be ages getting there, and I only go in circles. Sicky circles. I'm very much enjoying standing up (with some help). it's far less bother than crawling.

Tuesday 12th August
I'll be the first to admit that I haven't quite got the hang of getting food to only go inside my mouth. The meal started off well, with the first spoonful only leaving a little bit of residue on my lips. Ten minutes later I had food all over my head and in my ears and I'm not quite sure how it happened. That's the trouble with baby food - its so spreadable. It also seems to exhibit magnetic qualities where my skin is concerned.

Monday 11th August
I have spent a long time today practicing my standing up. Some might say that I'm trying to run before I can walk, but I prefer to think of it in terms of standing before crawling. It's a good job I have such sturdy little legs, it looks like I'm going to be spending a long time using them. Obviously at the moment they look like dough held together with elastic bands, but I'm sure they'll fill out a little bit soon enough.

I spent the rest of the day wriggling.

Sunday 10th August
I am becoming increasingly disatisfied with the state of my teeth in general. It doesn't seem very fair really. They all really hurt and I'm not very keen on the taste of calpol. I tend to spit it all out - even when its been explained to me that it will make me feel better.

I went into town with Dad today - he took me in the baby carrying device that Mum usually wears. Most irregular and unusual. Anyhow - it rained really hard, but Dad managed to protect me from getting too wet with the aid of a carefully placed umbrella. Most impressive.

I've really been having a go at standing up today. I can keep it up for quite some time and even move one of my feet if someone holds my hand. It's best not to try and move the other foot though - it makes me fall over.

Saturday 9th August
I've been making special kinds of noises that sond almost like words. My favourite one at the moment is "hello andrew" only without all the consonants. It's a word (or words) that I hear an awful lot around the house. I've been saying it too as it seems very popular.

I've also been doing some standing up practice today. I can now manage a few minutes of standing. After a while I have to have a nice sit down though - it makes my legs very tired.

Friday 8th August
Its very hot today and very hot doesn't really go with having brand new teeth for everyone to admire. Dad says he is going to borrow Peter's fan for me this evening. Hopefully that will keep me from boiling in my own skin tonight. I may have been slightly grumpy today. I've discovered that I can howl extremely loudly if I need to attract attention to my plight.

Thursday 7th August
There has been absolutely no fun for me today, sadly my tooth has prevented me from being anything other than objectionable. I believe that there are only 16 teeth left to get. I'm hoping that they all come at once instead of spread out over the next 18 months.

Wednesday 6th August
Hoorah for me - I've got another tooth today. So thats two at the top and two at the bottom. That makes "fwab" teeth according to Peter although I believe the correct number is 4.

They have been giving me a small amount of trouble a Dad and Mum found out last night. It's very hard to get to sleep when my face is hurting. I amused myself when Dad was walking around with me by blowing raspberries on his shoulder. I was far quieter with Mum - no rasperries at all.

Tuesday 5th August
Mum and Dad are trying to persuade me not to wake up in the night. They seem to be doing it by letting Dad stay up with me. They think that because Dad is mostly rubbish in the middle of the night that I'll get fed up of waking up and stay asleep. I can't honestly think that it will work but I suppose I'll give it a little bit of a try.

I've been having a go with the pop up farm. I've seen them all pop up and I've seen them pop down again but I'm still figuring out exactly how it works. I'll let you know of any developments as they happen.

Monday 4th August
I've been having a look in the diary at what Peter was dong when he was as old as I am now. It seems that he was saying "Ning!" a lot and was just about rolling over. It seems that although I can't say ning yet, I am way ahead of him on the rolling over fromt.

I was veeeery tired today because I didn't sleep at all well last night. Dad fed me my tea and I nearly fell asleep 6 or 7 times between mouthfuls. After I'd finished I was so full that I did fall asleep and nearly banged my head on the table. Fortunately Mum was there to catch me.

Sunday 3rd August
I've had a lovely day of sitting up and rolling over - with a little bit of being sick in between - I was also invited to a teddy bears picnic in the garden. Everyone and their bear was there, and there was even a little bit of food - although as Peter was handing it out most people had to wait a very long time for anything to eat.

My tooth is hurting.

Saturday 2nd August
I've got a new tooth today - it's just poking through at the top, somewhere in the middle. I expect that this is the reason why I've been a little bit grumpy of late. Its an excuse anyway.

My sitting up skills have now progressed to expert mode. There's the occasional wobble but otherwise I am quite capable of sitting unaiaded for quite some time. Apart from when I nose dive into the floor.

I went shopping with Dad today and managed to help myself from my drink cup. It gave me hiccups but it was quite an acheievment.

Friday 1st August
For those of you that are interested here is my menu for the day. My breakfast consists of a special cereal that Dad made for me this morning. Usually Mum makes it for me and to be fair to Dad, Mum is really the expert at breakfast time. My breakfast was followed with a rice cake, which I dropped on the floor.

For lunch I was lucky enough to have Strawberry cheesecake AND an empty ice cream cone, which I really insisted that I had. Tea time was interesting - It was cauliflower cheese and apple and banana. I "washed" my tea down with a rusk. Obviously in addition to this I had lots of lovely milk.

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