Felix is now a little boy

Babies are annoying. Pink, fat, you stuff food in one end and wipe crap off the other. Keep it warm, fed and clean and you won't kill it. They don't do anything entertaining. Toddlers are terrifying. They get up, run around, get their hands onto everything. They're anarchists that don't have the language skills to express themselves. They tantrum over predictable things: want something, not getting it, can't control my world, tantrum. There's no spite or grudge, just reaction.

Toddlers have no danger sense. They'll try and carry twice their weight in soft toys down the stairs and will tantrum half way down when they can't. They'll run headlong at slippery steps. They're nuts. Toddlers also start putting words together but not coherently into phrases. It's "Not that", "Good, Yes?", "Biccy please?". A toddler can't tell you what they did today - except if their hurt themselves or sat on the timeout step for 5 minutes for hitting someone. They are hilarious greed engines.

Felix is now a little boy. How can I tell? Because last night I removed all the remaining stair gates from the house. That might not seem so amazing, after all our house is not a palace of death. What that actually means is that we trust him to look after himself and not do anything too fucking stupid. He's not going to climb the bookcase. He's not going to grab hot things from the oven. He'll still trip over his own feet when running around and he'll climb up onto the arm of the sofa but he's becoming aware of what is safe. So, definitely time for a roundup-update. I'll use a similar format as before.

Motion

Felix runs everywhere. From sofa to dining room table? Run. From push chair to sofa? Run. From bed to bedroom door? Run. RUN RUN RUN. You can make him run faster by being behind him. Climbing is still a fun sport but we trust him much more not to kill himself, the sofa is still the worst offender. He's given up trying to climb on the dining room table. Thank god.

When playing with other kids, he'll happily explore everywhere in a soft-play area. At Center Parcs a couple of weeks ago, he was more interested in learning how to swim in the big pool with us than go down the kiddy-friendly water slides. Children of his size where whizzing down but he was not so keen. He'd rather stand at the top and tell the children to go when the green light was lit. Swimming is the next big motion target for him and lessons will begin shortly.

Transportation

Felix has a Micro Scooter with three wheels - two at front and 1 at back. He scoots slowly, taking measured steps. Even on gentle slopes (at Cintra park) he won't coast yet, taking measured pushes. He also likes walking alongside it, as if walking a dog.

At his grandparents (Kate's side), Felix has a three wheeled sit-on trike. He refuses to use the pedals, instead pushes himself along in a more awkward way. When at play groups, he always seeks out a trike, even if another child is on it.

Diet

Felix now eats pretty much what we eat. He's not too keen on green stuff, the bitter taste of salad isn't really his bag. A typical day for Felix is:

Breakfast (0600-0630): Banana
Second Breakfast (before 0800): Either rice cake or a cereal bar
Elevenses: Fig roll biscuit (he calls Figgy Biccy)
Lunch (1200): Slice of buttered brown bread with cheese and ham cut up. Like an open sandwich.
Pre-nap (1300): 160ml of full fat (4% blue top) milk.
Post-nap (1530-1600): Some sort of treat/biccy/cake/whatever we have in. Or a rice cake.
Dinner (1700-1800): Whatever we're having: potatoes are a favourite. If he's eating alone he might have homous with pitta arranged as a 'Sun' with the homous in the middle, wholewheat pasta with pesto or "pizza" which is really just cheese on toast.
Afters (1830): Petit Filous Yoghury (Strawberry or Apricot), or strawberries.
Pre-bed milk: 220ml of full fat.

Other favourites include olives, chocolate (only as a special treat) and crisps. What we're quite impressed with is that he'll try just about anything - and keep trying too. He's nearly at the point of eating peas. He'll also try salad but doesn't got more than one leaf.

He likes squash but drinks water mostly. We call it 'juice'. We're liars but it's better for now.

Communication

Felix has two kinds of communication, phrases that are mimicking Kate and I and those sentance structures that he invents by himself. He is picking up words very quickly now and his vocab is vast. However, what's most surprising is the fact that the mimicked phrases he uses below are all used in the correct context. Sometimes Felix will repeat sentances straight back at you. He's not always agreeing with your or answering the question, he's just filling the void. He knows he has to reply, he's just not sure what to say. So he repeats you. It can be a little frustrating when you're asking if he wants more strawberries, he repeats the question back but doesn't really want more.

Mimicked Phrases

• Good boy, Daddy. Keep trying. He first said this when we were waiting for Kate's laptop to boot Skype.
• Get off me! Actually means "keep tickling me". If you were to stop tickling, he'd look at you as if you were mad.
• I've got an idea! Normally said just before he tells you he wants to play a game.
• Bath time 5 minutes Is a way of putting off bathtime when we tell him 5 minutes is up.
• Boy, MOUF!. Kate got called MILF out of a car window. I wound her up by doing the same once "OI MILF!". Felix now thinks it's funny and does it whenever we deliver Kate to a maths class
• Baycoop. Playgroup.

Phrases he puts together

• Had enough. Thank you. Crisps, please? Said at the end of a dinner he was bored with.
• Play cars/trains/LEGO? Yes? Good? Used quite a lot.
• Daddy, not go work today. Play LEGO. Yes? Good?
• Hewwo pidey/aminal/doggy. How you doin' today? How he greats various bugs we find in the house.
• Little Dad Daddy! He shrieks this. Started with shouting it at squirrels, now he says it to me. No idea why but he loves it.

Personality

Compared to other boys his age, Felix is a headstrong and forthright boy. He talks a lot more too. This has the dual affect of unnerving other 2 year olds and annoying Felix. It is obvious that he doesn't know why they can't talk back or answer his questions. He will push and shove other children out of his way and gets very annoyed when they take something he was playing with. He doesn't care about gender or age. A much older boy pushed him out of the way at a soft play area a few months ago and Felix ran after him and took him down. The 6/7 year old lay there looking stunned as Felix ran off, all I could say was "Best keep quiet about that, he's only 2".

Felix is a creature of habit and is very independent. He wants to do things in a certain order, which normally includes him going first. We've only just taken off the stair gates and he stays in bed in the morning calling for me or Kate. This morning, he stood at his open door calling and only came into our room when invited. He was quite certain that we were to get up, play either LEGO or on the computer.

Toys and Games

Felix's best friend is Doggy, a Jellycat "Mutt". He have 5 of them in total and he often has two at once. He kisses them by biting their nose. Felix has three favourite toys to play with: wooden Brio trains, cars and Lego. His Brio set is mostly a combination of Birthday and Christmas presents. In the past month, he has gone from being happy to run trains around a track I create to building his own tracks and running trains. We still build together but it's great he's taking the lead now. Cars get lined up but less often than 6 months ago, where he would arrange all the cars on a town-print carpet. He still runs cars down ramps. He can name Ferraris and Lamborghinis (Lannageenies). Lego is a new toy - he found it while it was waiting to go into the loft. He hasn't the strength or the dexterity to build much but we sit and build together.

On the computer, he's sit on my lap and give instructions while I play. He does have a go on the controls but can't quite understand what does what. We play Just Cause 2. Yes, I know this is a violent game but we play a non-violent sandbox version. Particularly easy because my game save is 94% complete so there isn't much military about at the moment. On spawn, we buy a car or helicopter and go for a drive or fly for a bit. He'll want a boat or a car and we'll buy another. If the "Naughty men" kick off then we'll run away. He also likes Burnout Paradise (cars, crashes, jumps) and Minecraft creative - only for laying train tracks and riding around.

Favourite Films

Cars (between the age of 2 and 2 1/2, he'd watch it twice a day if allowed)
Horton Hears a Who
Toy Story (all).
Wall E

Fave Music

Pretty much anything you can jump up and down to.

Bounce - System of a Down
Immigrant Song - Led Zepplin
Shop Vac - Jonathan Coulton
Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell (sung before he goes to sleep)
Little Boxes - Malvina Reynolds