your fifteenth month

We had been starting to wonder if it would ever happen.

But you finally decided to take some steps on your own.

The first time it was at the soft play centre with Mummy

and you took two steps before launching at her for a cuddle.

She made a big fuss and clapped at how clever you were

but you didn't see what all the fuss was about

and just pulled a confused face

and crawled off to play some more.

But you did the same thing two or three more times that day

including a special performance for Daddy

which included three steps.

And from there your confidence grew and grew.

We still wouldn't really refer to you as a walker yet,

but you were definitely on your way

and could walk across the lounge or between the furniture without any trouble.

You were developing a real sense of humour

and were starting to laugh if you dropped things,

or if you heard a funny noise.

You were also developing into a really cheeky monkey at times.

We knew that you would

because your smile had always been so cheeky,

but you now did things you knew you weren't supposed to

just to see what would happen.

Like standing up on your chair,

or banging the bin lid,

or emptying Mummy's candle box.

You'd watch us the whole time waiting for a reaction,

and when we said no you would smile sweetly

and shake your head for no

as of you never planned on doing it in the first place.

You were really improving with feeding yourself with a spoon.

It always made Daddy very twitchy because he didn't like the mess,

but you were definitely getting better

when you practised with a yoghurt or some weetabix.

And we were starting to refer to you as The Gannet

because your appetite seemed to have taken a massive increase.

It was probably from all the extra energy you were burning trying to walk

but you could often polish off more in one meal than mummy.

You were a real groover and a shaker

and some mornings it was like you had woken up

with a rhythm in your head that you just couldn't ignore,

and you would dance all day.

You liked to swing your body from side to side

while rotating your arms around

and bobbing up and down.

Mummy was already wondering whether you might like to follow in her footsteps

and go to dance classes

but Daddy was pretty sure you would only be interested in football.

You had finally dropped the second nap

and we're now having one really long nap at lunch time.

When nap time came around you would fall asleep wherever you were

including at groups or in the car

and could be easily transported into the bedroom and put to bed without waking.

We were always so proud of how good you were at sleeping.

You could be put in your cot

and just seemed to know that meant it was time to sleep

and you would very rarely disagree

and would simply roll over to cuddle a teddy or two.