Ever since Ed wrote 'Mischief' under 'Full Time Occupation' on a medical form for Daniel, our son has been taking his vocation very seriously! This week he has developed the 'dropping things' game. This game involves dropping whatever toy, dummy or food item he has been handed. The game is only made more hilarious by Mummy's serious "No!" (get ready to be astounded by this praiseworthy example of firm but kind discipline - parents, take note, this is clearly the way to do it! Oh yikes! How DO you discipline someone as CUTE as this?!!!).
One morning, as I was brushing my teeth, I looked round to find Daniel standing up against the loo, splashing in the (thankfully, recently flushed) loo water. On another occasion, having left Daniel to play on his own for five minutes, I heard a crash followed by a wail and came rushing through to find our laptop computer (which he had been told not to touch) on the floor and Daniel was sporting the beginnings of a black eye! Thankfully it didn't develop into a full-blown 'shiner'. After the broken arm, a black eye might have got the neighbours worried! Another theme of the past week has been Daniel's refusal to go to sleep at night. We are grieving the loss of the baby who used to go down without a peep and sleep through until 7am. The cause of this unrest: his new-found ability to stand in his cot! He seems to get himself into a vicious cycle. The irresistible urge to stand overtakes him, even though he is incredibly tired. Then, once standing, he is currently unable to get himself back to a seated or lying position. Ed & I repeatedly go in and lie him back down, but the pattern continues until Daniel is so tired, and so upset that sleep becomes impossible. Usually Boobs do the trick in breaking the cycle, but on two occasions, we've had to resort to night drives with Mummy and Daddy in their 'jarmies! Until he learns to get back down from having stood up, we fear there may be more sleepless nights ahead of us.