Junior Gammons!: Lists.

After the last post, which was quite Elizabeth-heavy, here's some stuff about Louis.

Our visitors (that is, Marg & Alan, and my mum, Joy) have all noticed that he's come on in leaps & bounds since the summer when they last saw him. We've noticed, M and I, and we see him every day, so it must be noticeable! So last night, as we were sat around the table, I asked them for a list of new things that he's doing, so that we'd have a record of them! And here's what we came up with (interspersed with pics of course!)

He's much better on his pins. He runs about, and is working on jumping, although he doesn't leave the ground!
He ate some mashed pears with a spoon yesterday, which was messy, but cool!
His talking is coming along nicely - he'll babble or scribble whole sentences, and really likes being sat with a magazine or newspaper on his lap. He'll read along and chat with himself. He'll sing, too, and he's already more musical than his mother.

He'll play happily on his own more now. He'll hide in his tent in the lounge, and just... well, lounge!
If he's got a coat or cloth in his hands, he'll flap it in imitation of Lalaine doing the laundry!
He recognises animals quite well - elephants especially, but also snakes (both are on the walls of his tent). He loves the big ellies at Landmark, and can find his own way to them from any entrance. Which is more than my mum can do, with her sense of direction.
He's starting to look left handed. Interesting - wonder where that comes from?
'Who's a good boy?' 'Me!' and he points to himself!

(The above pic was taken by M on Friday morning at the clubhouse, and I love it. He's got a couple of my mum's bracelets on his ankles. Good photo, mate.)

We were reading him a story in the lounge the other day (I forget who was on book duty) but Louis was asked 'Where's the snake?' (there was one in the book!) He jumped down from the sofa, grabbed Marg's finger and dragged her over to the tent, and pointed to the snake on the tent wall. Clever boy!
If you ask him where his nose is, he more than points to it - he puts a finger up it!
He pedals his bike, and kicks his ball, and spins round on the spot then wonders why he falls over.

(A worried looking Monkey, as always! He doesn't always look like this, only when the cameras are produced!)

He's trying out being naughty. Ask him not to do something, and he'll go all coy, looking over his shoulder at you as he continues to do it. Just to test, you know!
He says please if we ask him to, and said sorry to Dan R once, on demand, but he meant that a little less!
He's quite helpful in fetching and picking things.
And most importantly, he's lovely with Elizabeth, soft & gentle. If she cries, he tells us 'Baba!', and rushes to see what's up. He strokes her head, pushes the pram about with her in. Good boy.

That's about all for now, I think. It's a constant delight to see him grow.

(I am very aware that Louis has seen a change in the way that the house works, and we act (all of us, including Lalaine) around him since Elizabeth, and we're of course trying to minimise the changes. He's getting lots of love and attention, enough, I hope! And I'm also aware that this blog will need to be balanced, to cover all of our lives, even though it was originally started to be about Louis. It (the blog) will be around for years, I know, and both Louis & Elizabeth will grow old enough to read it, and I want them both to know that they are both wonderfully special to us, and that this is about both of them! And Louis needs to know that he was so cool that we thought we'd try to have another one just like him, and that's Elizabeth!)

Friday was at the Club House - we nearly had the place to ourselves, just Mike Bowe spoiling it! We let someone else cook, and had a great breakfast, and Louis had a good play on the playground equipment. Lovely. The water was wonderfully blue. If his cough has cleared up, I'll chuck him in next time! (As I type, I think that the olds have gone for a swim - we'll see if they went through with it later!)

A&M at the clubhouse.

That night I saw a tuk-tuk outside LuLus! Why? No matter, it was a nice reminder of Thailand.

Saturday was busy - we took Elizabeth and Louis to the photographer Dana - she did the two sessions for Louis when he was new born, and one year old. It was lovely to see that Louis' pics were good enough to hang in the gallery in the store! He's changed, of course, hasn't he?