Halloween firsts

First Halloween for T this year. When he was an infant he spent it in a sling. When he was one, C19 mean there was no way we were taking the risk. This year I think we were able to take enough precautions to keep us safe

He and I went around the neighbourhood. He'd knock on the doors with the houses with pumpkins and decorations. I'd then known louder or use the knocker that he'd not be able to reach. When they answered, he'd always just try to walk inside. And I'd have to remind him Say Trick Or Treat. And he would say Trick or treat while I pulled him back over the threshold (That's not how we do things tonight). Then they'd hold out basket for him to pick a candy from. About a third of the time the person would also say how adorably cute he is. And he was, indeed, cute, in his little skeleton suit and skull jacket.

I don't think T has any clue what he was being given, or the meaning of this all. But he would literally run to the next house (sometimes missing a house in his excitement), so he clearly was having a great time. When we passed in sight of his sister, he'd yell out her name at the top of his lungs so she'd be sure to notice him.

This was R's first Halloween trick or treating entirely without us. She was in a group of friends, all ten or eleven, and I think there was a parent with them too. They hit our neighbourhood as well as the next one over. Which is why R and I kept running into them – we both took rather random routes through the area.

R decided she would eat half her candy before she got home. I've no idea why she thought this would be a good idea, but she ended up throwing up the lot on the street, which brought a quick end to her outing. I hope she now realises that we ration out her sweets for a good reason, and with her best interest in mind.

In completely unrelated news, later that evening she lost her first molar.

Now we argue

T is generally quite agreeable. He's new to language, so it helps that he accepts that things are called what we tell him they're called. However on one case he seems quite obstinate.

The other day we were sitting together and he heard a birdsong from outside.

Dogs!

No. It's a bird.

Dogs!

That's a bird singing.

Dogs!

Bird.

Dogs!

B-ir-d.

Dogs!

Bird.

Dogs!

Bird!

Dogs!

Biiiiirrrd.

Dogs!

Ok. Nevermind.

The next day we're sitting again and he hears some construction noise from down the street.

Bird!

sigh No. That's just a noise.

Bird!

Shortly after that a bird calls in the distance.

Dogs!

Tell you what – we'll pick this up later.

Now we have words

One advantage of having children is that it gives some geography to lockdown. The baby who was just starting to eat solid foods at the start of it all is now on the verge of talking. The little girl is now somehow creating poetry and music that is actually pretty good. If not for them, every day would be some unidentifiable variant of work, food and mild entertainment.

T is starting to talk. He's been making progress for some time. He's been mastering repeating words said to him. He's recently reached the point of being able to recognise words and use some in the right context. He's still missing out on certain letters. B replaces many letters at the start of words (Bup instead of Cup). He still can't manage G and K sounds.

• duch instead of duck
• meeeb instead of milk
• dodds instead of dogs
• beeboo instead of peekaboo
• dood instead of good – though he does get the G right on rare occasions
• beeejuu which is his version of pleasure to meet you which he says when someone shakes his hand

I'm impressed that one of his first words was Please (beeeze). Addmittedly, it's used in the "gimmie" sense of the word. But I'm determined to appreciate it anyway. More recently he's added sorry, usually alongside hurt, given how easy it is for an aging adult to injury themselves doing toddler-related things like lifting and carrying.

Just so I have a record for later, his most common words are mostly body related Eye, ear, nose, boop (the noise of poking someone on the nose), bebby (belly), bum, feet, arm. Plus a bunch of normal nouns like loo , ball, sit and shirt.

He's picked up a lot of other mimicry. He's not bad at baby sign language. Probably better at remembering those gestures than I am. 2 days ago he started the blow-a-kiss gesture, which is rather sweet, especially when used alongside hi and bye. Yesterday he today he grabbed a tissue and wiped his nose. I've no idea if he actually needed to or was just copying.

He'll also put a flat duplo or block or suchlike against his ear and say Hello.... ummm..... I feel that he's trying to say that I say um a lot on the phone.

Like his sister, he'll point at a picture of himself and say, You! The other day he poked me in the chest with his index finger and said, meeee.

Speaking of R, she had a whinge at me yesterday about how the world is all screwed up and everyone is expecting her generation to fix it. I did, first off, apologise for Gen X for never having gotten sorted out enough to either really fix anything (or really break anything, for that matter). Then I said that maybe the millennials might fix some things so there's less burden on her. That did not help.