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inspired to join in with Jude, Fritha and, of course, Jodi, here's Mister G from the first week of 2013

"A portrait of Mister G, once a week, every week, in 2013"
(and in focus.)

Mister G has been unwell this week - a return to nursery meaning a return to fevers and colds and disturbed nights, as well as to his pals.  I like this picture, post-spaghetti on Saturday lunchtime, as it shows a softer, quieter side to G that I don't usually capture in between him climbing things, belly laughing and shouting RAAAR!

Having started the week before Christmas, G is now walking almost everywhere, gaining confidence and balance each day and not letting the many pratfalls deter him.  This morning he was literally running around in circles for the first time.

He seems to be starting to understand more of what we are saying (where's beegu? the carrots go in the bowl, not on the floor etc) and sometimes a desire to do the opposite anyway. While looking straight at me (and then making his new scrunched-up-nose grin.)

He blows bubbles in the bath, which confidence in dipping his face in the water I hope will stand him in good stead when it is time to learn to swim.

And he can now sort all of the shapes in his five piece hungry caterpillar puzzle, most of the time. Instead of just the circles, although he still prefers to sort them in decreasing order of circlishness. 

I had been toying with the idea of a photo a day, but even after just a few days it felt like too much and really who needs to see that many pictures of G? (apart, naturally, from me - sitting on the tube and scrolling through a million minutely differing photos of G eating food, G playing with duplo, G eating food whilst playing with duplo. And this is during my 15 minute journey on the way to pick him up from nursery. Yes, apparently I am that lady. At least I haven't started showing them to my underground neighbours. yet.) I struggle even to delete the clearly out of focus shots (because look! his face!) so I could probably do with practicing a little quantity control.  And quality, that too.

For a while after I returned to work, I kept a daily hard copy journal on my desk and each morning, as I eased into my inbox with a coffee, I would just jot down a few observations from the previous day.  I don't expect that it would make riveting reading for anyone else, but I like being able to look back and see that bathtime on 21 October was when G and I invented the 'bonk' game (him dropping a spade, me saying 'bonk', him laughing and laughing, rinse, repeat. some sounds are just funny I guess.) or how on 15 November he was posting things down the back of the sofa and standing up just a couple of times a day. It also gave me, in those early, raw days of separation, a few moments to really think about G before I started my work day without him.  However, as I got busier, needless to say the journal fell by the wayside - traded in for cutting my punctuality increasingly fine every day in order to spend just ten more minutes at home first.

So I'm also going to include a few words about what Mister G's been up to recently as I find it constantly baffling how fast the time flies and, although it seemed incomprehensible at the time, I start to forget things like when G first did that puzzle right, or climbed that piece of furniture.

Little milestones that slip into the monolithic past so easily, you know how it goes.