Tonight Colin was standing in his crib before going to bed and he called to me in a small voice. At first I didn't understand what he was saying, until I realised he was saying "My paw is itchy, Mama" and holding out his little hand. A long time ago he had been playing a plastic tiger and pointing to the feet, told me that the tiger had "hands". I corrected him and said the tiger has paws. Now, many months later he suddenly applied the word "paw" to his own hand!

He's really developed an active imagination. Sometimes I think he's living in his fantasy world where there are lots of animals, Grandpa takes him to the "big zoo", everything can be turned into a train (including playing cards, dinner plates, lego bricks and shoes). Sometimes he runs around the house shouting "Rrragh!" and tells me he's a lion. Sometimes he dances and says "Lion dong dong chang!" (thinking about the lion dance he saw at a friend's wedding). He put on my mother's red slippers yesterday and walked around, telling us they were "robot shoes" and he was a robot. He's so funny yet exasperating at this age!