Another quirky thing Setri has been doing over the past few days... I told him that something he did (or was about to do) was silly. "Silly Billy bohy!", said Setri. Ever since then it has been 'Silly Billy do this/that'- "Silly Billy dep in 'ole" was one. The weird thing is we have no idea where he got the phrase. Gam and I have never used it in our lives. My mum didn't use it, or at least in all the time that Gam and I were around she didn't. That leaves TV and books, I guess? Over the last week or so, Setri has started responding 'Nah' instead of 'no' or 'no thank you', and we attribute that to a kids' book called 'On Your Potty' that mum picked up at the op-shop while she was living here. One of the main characters says 'nah' instead of no. Setri of course didn't heed the potty-training message.

When Setri isn't talking about Silly Billy, it's cookie monster. "Cookie Mommoh eat caper" (said while eating capers by the spoonful), "Cookie Mommoh eat bibbit (biscuits)", "Cookie Mommoh dink baybeh-chee-no" etc etc. He does a world-class Cookie Monster impression (minus the mess, thankfully- just pretend) too. I'd love to get that on video!

Just a further couple examples of things that typify Setri's language development lately:

- When watching a video on YouTube he will say "Don't like this lown (one). Dop this lown".

- Pointing to a fan on our bedroom ceiling, he said "Fan like at Gan-dad 'ouse. Got fan at our 'ouse".


Tonight's the first night we have ever attempted to put Setri to sleep in a room other than ours. He asked to "leep in Mam-ma bed", so I put him down to sleep there. He still hasn't woken and I'm about to go to bed and it feels really weird, and not at all good :( Even though I'm sure he will sleep better without us! We are both expecting to have to bring him in here at some stage when he wakes up though. It just seems unlikely that he would sleep through in a strange bed (he is clothed in a singlet and not covered at all because it's a hot night, but bound to cool down). (Update: ultimately he woke up very shortly after I fell asleep, and before Gam went to bed). Despite my sleep ultimately being crappier than it would have otherwise have been, and despite looking forward to cuddling Gam while sleeping (which we haven't really done since our last night in hospital after Setri's birth), I was so happy/relieved to have Setri in bed with us. When he does finally grow up and move into his own room I will miss him. Despite the lengthier-than-planned co-sleeping I don't regret doing it. These are hours of Setri's life that we wouldn't have got to share otherwise, and interactions with him that we wouldn't have had. Gam may not be overjoyed at being woken and asked for daddy cuddles or pats at 3am, but there is still something really special about cuddling up to our sleepy little monster. He will only be little for a little while longer. I am so glad we didn't go down the path of regimented self-settling etc. I think I would hate myself a little bit if we had. I still can't help but be conscious of the fact that Setri may be our only child. I would rather err on the side of giving him too much of my time and physical affection than the other way around.

Setri finally has a molar tooth! Or a pre-molar?

Re toilet training, I would say Setri is dry at night more than 95% of the time. It is really only paranoia that keeps me putting nappies on him at night. I don't have to worry about what type of cloth nappy to put him in, or whether it can hold a big wee, which is nice. We had a weird blip in the TT while visiting my parents, where Setri weed in his nappy more often than usual, and weed on our bed once (which he had never done before). I put it down to us telling him he had to either hold it or wee in his nappy on the car trip down. Most times he would hold it, so who knows why he chose to wee in his nappy more once we returned home to Brisbane (he asks to wear nappies when he wants to ride his trike, presumably because it's more comfortable). We solved it by putting him in undies and putting up with a couple of wees on the floor... And lots of praise from Gam when there was wee done in the toilet.

Just thought I would put in another sentence that Setri has been saying rather frequently lately: "Like go there lown(one) day". Often in reference to wanting to go somewhere he sees on TV. If it's someplace he knows he will say the place (e.g. 'that' beach, pool, zoo) instead of 'there'. He still does not differentiate between fictional settings (e.g. an animated TV show) and real ones. In fact he is more likely to say he would "Like to go there one day" about an animated environment than a real one, I think.

This evening, walking home from the park, we were discussing Setri's command of language, and for some reason his use of the phrase 'calm down' to Gam was brought up.

Sarah (to Setri): Daddy got OWNED! (Partly a reference to Setri's own use of the phrase the other day).

Setri: *grinning* Lol.

Yes, he said 'Lol'. Yes, Gam and I do say 'Lol' occasionally. Usually in a sarcastic or mocking context. Setri just nailed it, like he does every time. He almost never uses words in an inappropriate context. The only two I have picked up on is 'going' (Setri pronounces it 'gogo'), where he occasionally says something like "Lets gogo mark (Let's going [to the] park)" and 'have be' instead of 'have to'. E.g. when he finds an empty bottle or jar in the kitchen he will often say "Haf be buy more" instead of 'have to buy more'.

Pretty sure a jubilant cry of "Maint! Do by lelf!" has to be right up in the invokes-horrible-sinking-feeling stakes with Setri's chirpy "Oh-lake! Get up, Mumma". But he had actually managed ok... Actually, knowing Setri, if he had made a mess with the paint I would have heard a distressed cry of "Mess... Lipe it up..."

Setri's latest joke is a fairly simple one: when asked what he would like to eat, he replies "Nuts", and then grins or sniggers. He's aware that he's not allowed to have them (he has tried them, in small pieces, but didn't manage to chew them- we have explained to him why he is not allowed whole nuts, hence the joke).

Another sentence of 7-words: "Go outlide tek bar mat off loathe-line (go outside and take the bath mat off the clothesline)". He wanted to ride his trike over it and I told him I had put it in the wash and it was now hanging on the clothesline...

This morning's examples of Setri's response to Feifei's arrival on our bed show how he is using words like 'very' and 'really' lately:

Setri: (more joyously than he would ever greet Gam or I) Feifei! Feifei nice cat. Feifei vehveh nice cat.

Sarah: Aww. We love Feifei, don't we?

Setri: *Really* love Feifei!


Just thought of something that I don't think I've mentioned before: quite a few months ago I let Setri have a lick of a piece of chewing gum to taste it. Ever since then, everything minty that he's tasted has been assessed as "tate like chewju gome".


Gam was rousing on Setri for raiding the recycle bin in the kitchen. "If you do that again you'll have to go out!", he said. So Setri did it again. "That's it! Out of the kitchen!", Gam said sternly, raising his voice slightly. "Garm down!" said Setri, with a smirk. "Garm down!". Seriously, I know something like that would bother my own Dad and he would probably mutter things about being smacked by his own mother if he said something like that, but what are you supposed to do in response to a *20-month-old* who is not just smart but a complete smart-arse? Setri says these things in a very good-humoured way. Is it better to respond with laughter or to punish him for being too clever? It's not like he kept raiding the bin after this- it's not the bin that interests him so much as our response to his actions.


Setri used a 7-word sentence this morning but I've forgotten what it was! Grrr.


Setri has been telling us stories about that mysterious character, 'Really Happy Man'. He already told us that Really Happy Man goes shopping at Woolworths to buy bacon and eggs, and to the 'black fan shop' to buy plantains and biltong. All fairly wholesome. Setri began today's story after referring to himself as 'really happa bor (boy)'. "Really Happa Man go Looll-ler, buy egg, baybay". "Does Really Happy Man go to the bakery too?", I asked, "to buy bread so he can have toast with his bacon and eggs?". "Yeah" replied Setri. "And what does Really Happy Man have to drink with his bacon and eggs?", I asked. "Awa-hole", said Setri with absolute certainty. "Yikes! Really?!", I said. "Um, can you tell me, does Really Happy Man eat his bacon and eggs for breakfast or for dinner?". "Dinner", said Setri. "Okay, I suppose that's slightly better than drinking at breakfast. What type of alcohol does Really Happy Man drink with his bacon and eggs", I asked, expecting beer or 'line' as an answer. "Voh-vod", came the reply. "Really Happa Man dink voh-vod". Just :-o at Setri's stories! (Update: after lunch, Setri enjoyed drinking some of my beautiful Mariage Freres tea, whereupon he announced "Really Happa Man dink dee". Obviously the guy isn't all bad!).


Setri picked up a shiny pink mini-USB off our desk in the study and pointed to it. "That", he said, obviously wanting me to name it for him. "That's a mini-USB", I told him. Setri clutched the newly-identified object to his chest. "Bo-long do Leh-li (belongs to Setri)", he announced. He has also started saying 'bo-nana' for 'banana'. Another (mis)pronunciation I love is "Oh-lake!" for 'awake'. I still groan when I hear his cheery "Oh-lake!" at a pre-6am time as occurred this morning (after going to sleep at 9.15pm).


This evening was funny: Setri saw a picture of an emu in his alphabet book...
Setri: Emoo. Fye! *flaps arms*
Sarah: No, actually emus can't fly because they are too big *dreads soon having to explain why aeroplanes can fly*
Setri: *wide eyed* Juh lork (just walk).
Sarah: Yes! Very good! They can only walk.
Setri: *gets up and starts walking across the room with weird high-stepping gait*
Sarah: Where are you going?
Setri: Juh like emoo!
Getting him off to sleep was not so funny. He had a massive massive tanty and it took first me, then Gam ages to get him off to sleep. His premolars look like they are about to burst through the gums so perhaps it's that, but I asked if he was having any ouchies and he said no.


Gam mowed the lawn today. Same response from Setri as last time I mowed it. Endless wails of "Me mow lawn! ME MOW LAWWWN *wail*"



Had our lovely neighbours over for waffles breakfast this morning. After eating we were outside and Setri decided he'd had enough and wanted to go in. After a few episodes back and forth of "Go inlide now" vs. my "We'll go inside soon", spanning 20min or so, Setri started to cry (approaching nap time). "Go inlide RIGHT now!". Funny about waffles- often we have 'Auntie Nicole' and 'Uncle Dave' over when Gam makes waffles. Last night I told Setri that Daddy was going to cook waffles tomorrow, he piped up "Awah Nick-lole".

Last night, NYE/NYD when Gam was coming to bed, Setri woke up and bossily instructed "No Daddy, move over. No leep 'ere. Leh-li leep 'ere, juh' like Daddy", and smugly plumped Gam's pillow before plonking himself on top of it. "Leep Daddy lillow, juh' like Daddy". Gam and I ignored him at first, thinking it was one of his usual sleepy jokes, and Gam just hopped into bed as usual, but Setri kicked up a stink. Gam asked where he should sleep, and Setri refused to answer, instead happily announcing he would "Leep right there, juh' like Daddy". In the end Gam climbed in next to me and I shuffled Setri over to gam's side. Think this has prompted us to get our arses into gear and get him his own bed. My mum has moved home now so hopefully he will soon have his own room too!

Can no longer pretend that Setri isn't really interested in a particular TV channel and switch channels without asking him. He sees the menu screen come up and hastily points and instructs "Watch that lown".

"Jus' looh-look" and "Jus' meh-mell" = 'just looking' and 'just smelling'. We hear those a lot lately, whether it's part of an entreaty to hand him something from the cupboard, or a reassurance that he's not about to pick someone's flowers. Also 'lurlur' (furry), as opposed to 'fur', and a few similar grammatical constructs.

Haven't mentioned the godawful jokes Setri makes when he's pooed in his nappy. He threatens to sit down or to ride his trike. He wouldn't of course- a constant refrain is "Don't like mess", and we try to make a point of not laughing because we really want to encourage him to poo in the toilet. But just take this morning's example. After having pooed in his nappy and begun the bow-legged waddle to the bathroom to say 'goodbye poo', Setri wisecracked: "Lit down, 'quash loo on bum"

Yesterday and today used 'and' for the first time. "Mum and Dad at lolloh lop (coffee shop)", and "Mumma, Daddy and Lulu", and "Mumma and Daddy and Lulu"- almost like he was testing it out. Using 'very' and 'really' a lot.

"Workman doesn't raid his Mummy's makeup". "Leh-li do!"


"Happa 'bout YOO, Mumma!"

"Leep on floor with Daddy"

Putting Setri's night nappy on, Setri started wincing and groaning, while smiling ever so slightly. "Are you faking an injury, Setri?", I asked. "Yeah", he grinned. "Mumma got OWNED". Of course Gam thought that was very funny. Until we were lying in bed together and Setri said "Daddy, move down". Gam moved over a bit, and Setri said again "Daddy, move down". So Gam moved right to the edge until he was precariously balanced right on the edge. Setri rolled right over until he was pressed right up against Gam's back, practically pushing Gam off the bed. "Heyyy!!! said Gam. "What just happened there?""Did Daddy just get owned?", I suggested. "Daddy got OWNED!", scoffed Setri. In bed tonight he also deliberately pulled funny/ugly faces for the first time.

Setri got a big tonka truck for Xmas from his Auntie Cil and Uncle Richard. With it was a little plastic hard-hat, spade and rake. I told him he looked like a little workman in his hat. Today Setri took the spade and rake in the bath, along with 2 plastic cups to play with. He was about to drink some of the bath water from the spade when I noticed and said "Setri don't do that. You know not to drink that". Setri's comeback? "Workman drink that"

'Grandad's House' has many fans. Setri has an obsessional interest in fans. "That fan on, leeez. That fan on too" is a constant refrain- one fan is never enough. After an adequate number of fans is switched on, Setri pipes up with "Happa about faaans", with an adorable smile on his face. I nearly died of cute overload the first time I heard that. This morning he said it about lights when I switched on a bunch of them in the darkroom. "Happa about lights" *swoon*.

Trip to Kempsey in the car was not the hell-ride we expected. Even though we had to turn back around Springfield because we had forgotten to put the kitty litter trays on the floor and Setri had a good old complain about getting back in the car, he went to sleep within an hour after chatting fairly happily with us, slept for an hour and a half, and when he woke up he spent considerable time treating us to adorable renditions of Hickory Dickory Dock, Incy Wincy Spider, Galumph Went the Little Green Frog, and Baa Baa Black Sheep (the former three he had never sung to us before).

Have mentioned some of Setri's strange utterances previously but I think I forgot this one. Every now and then he will say "Really happa man" (really happy man) out of the blue.

Setri came to work with me today, Gam took us both in (I'm officially on holidays). Was reasonably sociable. On the way home he was sleepy but it was pre 11am and nowhere near nap-time, so I suggested we visit the coffee shop. "Go 'ome", Setri pleaded. "You don't want coffee?", I asked. "No. Go 'ome", he replied. "No coffee? Saaad!", I said. "Kai kai leep leep leep", said Setri in an overtly sarcastic tone, then scoffed. Gam laughed. "Setri, did you just say 'cry cry, weep weep weep'?", I asked, incredulous at what I thought I'd just heard. "YEAH!" said Setri in a big voice, then cackled "Ahahahaha!!". At that, Gam cracked up laughing, and I asked Gam if he'd just said that, thinking it was *exactly* something like he would say, and that it was more likely Setri had parroted him and I had somehow not heard. "No", said Gam. "Kai kai leep leep leep! Ahahahaha!" scoffed Setri. I was pretty much left with my jaw on the floor, but could not help laughing. Setri was so pleased with his efforts he kept repeating the line the whole way home...

Also, this morning Setri woke up at 6.20am and after having got me up and subsequently returned to bed to play while Gam was sleeping, Setri pulled a trick on me. I'm sure I mentioned a month or two ago that Gam taught Setri to fake an injury? Well, while mucking around climbing on top of Gam (I was reading on my BlackBerry), Setri toppled off and started groaning "Ooooh... Ow-ow... Aaargh". When I popped my head up I could see nothing wrong but Setri was still lying down, wincing. I could see a glint in his eye and sure enough when I asked if he was okay or had had an ouchie he just laughed, climbed astride Gam and repeated the whole performance! Later today we had him pretending to be sad, happy (both convincing!) and angry (not so convincing). Funny little guy. Ooh I just remembered something else he did- he was toddling around singing to himself and I heard him sing pretty much all the words to Baa Baa Black Sheep! With the way he pronounces things it went something like this:

Baa baa back leep av any lool
Yeh lir yeh lir ree bag lool
Lown lor Mahma, dame, lilli bor lih down down lane


I carefully shut up and said nothing because he is a touch shy about singing, but he went on and on and repeated it a couple more times, so Gam actually came into the kitchen and got to hear it too! I told Mum about it (she left today, this happened just before she left) and she asked if he was singing in tune. Well... Not really! Not like the way he's been singing Wheels on the Bus recently. But a great effort anyway, for such a little kid.

Still frequently left bewildered by how little sleep Setri seems to need. I'm exhausted from a stream of late nights, it's 9pm, and Setri is still awake. His usual bedtime is 8.30pm (we get him into bed at 8pm but he is almost never asleep before 8.30pm). He wakes these days between 6.30am and 7am. Never in the middle of the night nowadays, thank god for small mercies. Max. 1hr nap in the middle of the day.

Gam bought a massage table and was putting it together in our bedroom at Setri's bedtime. "How 'bout that!" Setri said, pointing at the massage table. Wondering where he copied the expression, we asked him "Who says 'how 'bout that'?". "Leh-li", Setri replied, pointing to his chest. O-kaaay then!

Just saw a photo on FB of the daughter of an acquaintance; little girl is the same age as Setri. One of those classic 'kid with face covered in food' shots (kind of like the ones we took after Setri's first ever chocolate biscuit). These days Setri would *never* allow himself to get messy like that. He hates mess.

Don't know if I mentioned on my birthday last month that Gam bought me a Hello Kitty cake from a Japanese bakery? Well, I opened up the box to show Setri, and he thought it was a toy. Within a split second he had reached in to pick it up with both hands. There was soft white icing all over his hands. "Meh! Meh! (Mess)" he wailed, holding his hands away from his body in distress. "Losh 'aand! (Wash hands)". I tried to reassure Setri that it was just yummy icing and that he should have a taste, but he refused. He just wanted his hands washed. Even after his hands were nice and clean he would not taste the cake.

Another funny thing he does re mess... You know the way some dolls and toys and cartoons have round pink dots on their cheeks? Setri sees that and points at the spots and says "Memmy (messy)". He pointed at the little red 'cheek' dots on his toy, Mamai, when he got it a few months ago and told me "Mamai memmy".

This afternoon Setri made up another verse of Wheels on the Bus. The second one he's made for mum. This one was "Mam-ma buh, Don' tuh light" (The grandma on the bus says "don't touch the light")

As a treat for Setri, Gam let him come in the car to drop me off at work, with the intention of dropping Setri at the childcare centre, where Mum would be waiting to mind him. Setri got so incredibly upset when Gam went to leave that Gam actually stayed for quite a while to hold his hand. After he left, Setri was apparently upset for a while longer but settled down and did really well. In the afternoon, he asked if we could go back there! Poor Gam had been upset all day about Setri's distress, and then Setri asked to go back!

Went over to our neighbours' house tonight to give them a little Christmas gift and wish them happy christmas (and thank them for all they've done for us this year... We have the BEST neighbours). Setri was actually more charming than shy for a change, though he didn't talk much (lots of cute cheeky smiles and showing off though). He held Kahrin's hand when she took him into their garden to show him the agapanthus (another flower he knows), then he cutely told me when he came back that he "Old aand" with Kahrin. When we finally said goodbye I asked Setri if he would say 'happy christmas' to Kahrin and Simon. Setri immediately went all coy and bashful and protested "Lyyyye" (shy), giving a cute bashful look while backing away. Awww.

"Daddy come back on bed". "Don' like let garse (wet grass)". "Lit go out there mell maimai (let's go out there and smell spices)". "Lit go tuhduh, lot buh vihvih-yo (let's go to the study, watch bus videos)" . All typical Setri-sentences of late. Especially the one about spices. Setri and his obsessive-bordering-on-pathological interest in things.

Singing "Leew buh, rau rau rau" and "Lee bine mye, lee bine mye. Lee 'ow lown (lown = run)"

Today Gam was reading a Diggers magazine with Setri before heading off to work. They identified a flower that Setri had picked on one of our walks over the weekend as a white peacock flower, or something like that. It was depicted alongside a 'yellow peacock flower'. This afternoon on the way home we stopped at the park where Mum had taken Setri to play. On the way back to the car, Setri pointed across the road and said "Yellow lea-loc lauer. Mam-ma". Presumably mum pointed them out to him when they were walking to the park.

All weekend long, Setri claimed to be 'laad'. When we asked him why, the reply was the same "Back lan/back lan lop" = he was sad because we had not taken him to the 'black fan shop'. We walked past it on the Sunday, when it's always closed, and he spread his hands and begged "Ope! Ope?".

Remembered one of the things I meant to write down yesterday. We needed to go to Bunnings, and asked Setri if he wanted to go. He said "Buh-buh. Vroom! Daddy make vroom!". Hmmmm.

Re toilet training, I realised today that I can't remember the last time Setri didn't have a dry nappy when he woke up in the morning. He always asks to go to the toilet within a minute or 2 of waking. Weird thing is though, mum says his nappy is frequently a bit wet after his daytime nap- typically less than 1 hour long. I forgot to put him in a nappy for his daytime nap today, but thankfully he didn't wet the bed.

This evening we took a walk and a car with an obnoxiously loud exhaust roared past. Setri said "that noisy car". There were a bunch of other things I meant to write down over the last few days but I keep forgetting. I've had a few late night 'episodes' of doing dumb stuff lately. Last night I put Gam's sticky date pudding into the cupboard where we keep cooking bowls and storage containers; other nights I have left fridge stuff in the pantry, or the next day's lunch on the lounge instead of the fridge :( I hope it's just that I'm really tired. Setri certainly didn't get that fabulous little brain from me.

Today Setri figured out on his own that 'mum' rhymes with 'bum'. And subsequently had great fun with the two words. That didn't take long...

This morning, saturday, Setri spent a good half an hour repeating the phrase "Mumma Daddy 'ome" and looking very happy about the fact we weren't heading off to work. We both hate leaving him :(

Instead of saying 'like Daddy' when we make a comment about some ability or physical characteristic of Setri's, Setri has taken to saying 'jus like Daddy'.

We copped some teenage attitude from our 20-month-old today. We were about to head off to 'Auntie' Erin's birthday evening at indooroopilly bowls club and needed to change Setri's shorts (elastic-waisted ones are easier to pull up and down going to the toilet). Setri threw a tanty and wouldn't cooperate. "We can always leave you at home," Gam said. "Do you want to come with us or stay home with Grandma?". "I don' care!", Setri yelled. But he did wind up cooperating in short order, giggling at our surprise and saying "I don' care" again and again... Gam and I were wracking our brains trying to work out if one of us had just said "I don't care" without realising it, thinking that surely Setri had been parroting one of us rather than coming out with that line on his own, but neither of us had said it recently!

Big red car... Setri is familiar with, although not an obsessive fan of, the Wiggles' song Big Red Car. There's an older version of it on YouTube that he is fond of that is musically superior to the more recent ones. Anyway, for some reason just in the last few days he started riding his little plastic trike and telling us it was a Big Red Car.

Mum has been taking Setri to the childcare centre every day to introduce him to the place. The first couple of days he seemed ok- a bit overwhelmed the first time because he was outside with bigger kids. Then yesterday he saw a little boy a bit older than him get dropped off and start screaming and carrying on. Mum said "It was like something clicked in [Setri's] head". He got really upset and didn't want to stay and play, and today he started to cry even

Ahahahaha I was finally let in on the secret bus story last night! So happy! Gam said to Setri that Setri could tell me the bus's name if he wanted to, and Setri got the most adorable shy look on his face as he quietly told me the name of the bus in the story: "Ber". It's not pronounced like the ber in 'Bert', apparently (we did ask), but more like the 'ber' in Camembert. So cute! Setri also told me that Ber has a friend who is a bus name Buhbar, and that Buhbar is a girl bus. *dies of cuteness*. I wound up floundering my way through this story, awkwardly making things up as I went along. Very functional rather than imaginative story, just like me, really. Setri must have liked it because the first thing he said after waking up this morning was "Mumma, more Ber". Awwww :)

Something else I forgot to mention last month (maybe accidentally-on-purpose, seeing as it's a bit shameful) is Setri's use of what I suppose is profanity. He has a knack for picking up on and parroting words like 'Gee/jeez', 'gawd' and 'good grief'. More interesting (worrying?), though, is that he occasionally drops these into conversation, always in an entirely appropriate context. It's not common, thank god (there I go again...) but when he does it he always nails it. Mostly though he just giggles and parrots the word in question when one of us makes an exclamation. Thankfully neither Gam nor I are particularly prone to use stronger cuss-words, but it will happen soon enough, whether it's us who he copies or a bigger kid at daycare...


2nd day of being 20 months old. This sentence he used this morning illustrates the new and improved communications from Setri. "Mumma get up. Lit (let's) go out there". He is basically fully conversational all of a sudden. It's not like we didn't have quite good conversations before, but he is communicating in what seems to be a really mature form of the language. Of course there is still the fact that he only occasionally manages 'p' and 't' sounds, never manages 's' sounds (he says 'S for Setri' as "Eh for Leh-li" if asked to read an 'S'). And I didn't get called 'Mum' once this morning! Last night was a different matter, but Gam put him up to it and Setri *loves* to collude with Gam in teasing me!

Tonight Setri woke up around 11pm as I was about to get ready for bed, so Gam sat with Setri and told him the 'bus story'. It's a special story about a bus... I have only overheard brief snippets, but it's usually the sight of Setri resting his cute little head on Gam's chest while Gam tells him the story that melts my heart. Every now and then, Setri will talk to me about something from the story, e.g. "Dark. Buh light off, go 'leep". Gam, seeing how "googly-eyed and silly" (as he put it) I went upon seeing and briefly overhearing him telling Setri the story, has insisted on secrecy ever since. Mostly to provoke me. Anyway, after shutting the bedroom door so I couldn't overhear while I was in the bathroom, Gam swore Setri to secrecy, then taunted me when I got back, telling me Setri had given the bus a name. Setri was so groggy and sleepy that I felt sure he would tell me, but he held off my sneaky efforts with amazing resolve. "No", he replied sleepily to my final effort at extracting even the tiniest detail. "Shot down!", Gam hooted. Setri perked up and immediately parroted Gam. "Shut DOWN!", he crowed. "Shut DOWN!", and he made a forceful 'shut' gesture with his hands (I think it's a sign he invented, but he uses it all the time to talk about shops being closed etc). Then he laughed and laughed, Gam's evil baby henchman. Boy do those two make such a great team. Setri has never really been a mummy's boy despite his clinginess, but even though I bear the brunt of their shared provocative sense of humour, I loooove the way Gam and Setri team up like that. When they laugh with glee at their dreadful jokes at my expense they just look so alike it's uncanny. And I love them both SO much <3

Setri over the last week or so (I.e. Since 19m) has started playing a little game where he walks or rides out of sight briefly before reappearing and announcing 'back again!'. Interestingly, he pronounces it 'uh-GAYN', not 'uh-GENN' like Gam and I do. Another recent development (first noticed when Dad was here a couple of weeks ago, I think) is Setri using the word 'number' (he says 'nunna') before saying the name of a number. E.g. 'Nunna eight!'. He is doing the same thing with letters but less consistently, e.g. he will often say either 'D. Daddy!' while holding up a letter D from his playdough cookie cutters, or 'Lella D Daddy' (letter D for Daddy). Oh and one more thing, he uses the word 'that' a lot. 'That big one', 'that big round light' (I was impressed with that one!), 'that red bus', all sentences he has used in the last few days.



Setri has started calling me 'Mum'. He first tried it out experimentally last night and I thought little of it. Today, exactly 20 months since he was born, he started using it consistently (except when he got upset, then I was 'Mumma' again). He pronounces it 'Mowm', using a vowel that sounds like a hybrid 'oh/ow' (like a cross between 'mow' and 'now') that he replaces an 'uh' with in most words with that vowel sound (e.g. bum = 'bowm'). "No ahnk-oo Mowm", he chirped when I offered him some breakfast. "Did you just call me Mum?", I asked him. "Yeah", he said, as if he'd achieved something noteworthy. "NO Mowm!" when I made a similar offer a little later. And "No mowm!" again when I asked him to practice his 'p' sound so he could say 'APPLE lider vih-neh-gar' instead of "Aawuh lider vih-ne-gar". Of course when Gam woke up a little later he thought this was hilarious. "You can still call me Mumma, you know", I offered to Setri. "Mowm!" he said with a big mischievous grin, shooting a sideways glance at Gam for approval. Sigh. I really hope this new name doesn't stick, I was hoping to be 'Mumma' until at least primary school!