your thirty-first month

You had always been such an active and nosey little chap

and the bigger you got the more this seemed to be the case.

You had a big thing for jumping,

and seemed to think that it was much more fun than boring old walking,

so you jumped everywhere.

You were also really into climbing

and seemed to have no fear whatsoever when it came to scaling things

both great and small.

Of course after you had climbed,

you then liked to jump off

and it caused many heart-in-the-mouth moments for us

as we watched you acting the daredevil.

Sometimes you would fall,

but you'd generally just say:

"Ooooh, that was a close one"

and then carry on.

As you turned thirty-one months old

we took you on holiday to Center Parcs.

It would be the underestimate of the century

to say that you enjoyed it.

You had always been a water baby

but your confidence in the water seemed to know no bounds.

You were happy to tread water,

put your head under,

be thrown,

go down flumes on your own,

and all with a great big smile on your face.

You just had such an adventurous nature

and were determined to grab every experience that was offered to you with both hands,

and we absolutely loved that about you.

There were times when we sometimes wished that you were a little more fearful in fact

as you seemed to think that every person was a potential friend

and had no concept of anything bad happening.

But we weren't ready for you to lose your innocent side just yet,

so we smiled at your braveness

and watched you closely.

You had been the best big brother ever

right from the second your baby sister had been born,

but you now constantly referred to her as your best friend

which was enough to make Mummy want to cry.

Whenever she cried you would run to us and say

"she wants a cuddle" in such a concerned way.

And when you went to bed at night,

you always insisted that she have both a cuddle and a kiss goodnight from you.

The kind and gentle way that you had with her

made us ridiculously proud of you.