It seems forever ago that I wrote J’s last update – maybe because I’ve only been doing it 2 monthly, and N’s updates monthly. Since then he has developed a lot – he is learning so much at the minute.

His independence is growing more & more. He now asks to wash his hands when he has been playing outside, and before he eats. He asks to brush his teeth – he used to hate it – though sometimes he does just suck the toothpaste off rather than actually brushing!

He is still being a great big brother and he is becoming closer to N every day. He has started showing him his toys, and reading to him. When we are playing and N is asleep in the bedroom, when N wakes he will hear him over the monitor and say “Oh, N wake!” and go running to the door to be the first person he sees. He cleans him up when he has been sick. (Even writing this is making my eyes leak, realising how much he has come to love his brother).

He is coming out with new words every day, some that I’ve never even said to him! One thing though; I may despise a certain cartoon pig, but he learns a lot of his words from there, unbelievably! (As well as a certain elf & fairy…). My favourite of his new words are “love you” – I’ve been trying to get him to say it to me for ages now, but he finally said it a few weeks ago! My heart melts. He’s not one to express his love for me vocally, he would much rather shower me with kisses (aww).

He has become a bit of a fussy eater – the only meat he will eat is ham, chicken if it has a coating on it (!), or sausages. Vegetables, he will only really eat peas or sweetcorn. Most other things he will gladly eat, but he used to eat such a variety of these things. He has become more adventurous with fruit though, so he does get his 5 a day still, even if it is from sweet things! His favourite fruits at the minute are grapes and oranges.

His favourite words at the minute are “No thankyou cancoo” – ask him to do something, no cancoo; ask him if he loves you, no cancoo; ask him if he wants to go somewhere, no cancoo. Though ask him if he wants food – “Yes please pease”! He also likes to tell people they have a big bum – Daddy has the biggest, apparently (yay, not me!). He has learned lots of new animals and can now count to 5 – he is behind some of his peers with numbers, but his other vocabulary really does astound me every day. He loves pointing at the pictures in his books and telling me what everything is.

He recently moved into a full size single bed. He kept falling out of his cot bed with the sides off – mainly because he likes to stretch out and it wasn’t wide enough for him! He hasn’t fallen out of this one yet, but we have found him hanging off the edge a couple of times! The bonus with this bed is that if he wakes in the night, one of us can actually go and sleep in his bed with him as we fit – and it’s actually comfier than ours!

Potty training has progressed a little since the last update. He will now sit on the potty for 10 minutes at a time, though he still hasn’t done anything on it. He can tell me when he has done a poo and a wee in his nappy though. We have been taking part in Potty Training Live! so I will be writing a post on that soon.

I mentioned a couple of months ago that we had been to his first parents evening and his key worker was a little concerned about his behaviour, so they were going to introduce a reward chart & stickers. I’m pleased to report that it seems to be going well and he is getting at least one sticker a week. He does tend to lash out when he is tired though – not that I am excusing his behaviour at all, but pinpointing it helps a great deal. He also no longer gives me a second glance when I drop him off, he just heads straight in and doesn’t even say goodbye!

Would you like to read J’s updates monthly like N’s, or every two months as they are at the moment?