Aidan is now ten and a half months old. If we were to sum up in four words what Aidan has been doing in the last couple of weeks it's this: "putting things into things". He's really gotten the hang of putting balls into his ball blaster, and the hopper on his stride-to-ride, but he's also mastering the slightly more difficult task of putting his stacking cups together in the right order. The balls he uses on his stride-to-ride and ball blaster are interchangeable so when he wants to play with one toy, and the balls are at the other, he will pick up a ball and crawl with it to the other toy.

He had a minor accident at the childminder's on the 19th May: he was standing holding a chair, and trying to move across to the table, when he missed, overbalanced, and hit his head on the table-edge. He had a nasty bruise on his left cheekbone which has taken some time to fade. This seems to have had quite an impact on his confidence: he's happy enough when we are there, but cries if we leave him for more than a minute or two, especially when he's tired :-( .

Some of the aforementioned clinginess may also have something to do with more teeth on their way through - he now has four top teeth! He's using these to great effect - really enjoying his finger foods and often preferring to feed himself, instead of being spoon-fed.

We bought him a couple of new toys: he's been enjoying tipping out his bucket of wooden blocks, and knocking over the amazing towers and buildings Mummy and Daddy have been making, and he has spent several happy sunny afternoons playing in and out of his tent-and-tunnel set on the back lawn (see the gardening pictures below).

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Image 0028-4454 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/4.5 2004:05:14 06:19:31 UTC

Playing with my reflection. I love visiting Grandma and Grandpa's house - they have full-length mirrors in their room, and I've now learned to stop before I bang into myself!

Playing the drum at Uncle Chris and Auntie Elaine's place. I visited them briefly while we were in Scotland for a christening.

Image 0028-4465 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/2.8 2004:05:15 15:05:31 UTC

Image 0028-4488 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/2.8 2004:05:20 07:50:10 UTC

Stacking the cups. I've been learning that cups can be different sizes, so the small red one fits inside the big blue one, but not the other way round. It took me a while but eventually I managed to put the seven smaller cups inside the biggest one!!

Helping Daddy with the gardening, Part I: potting. Mummy and Daddy combined couldn't keep me away from this pot - I knew it needed my magic touch to be a success! You can see my new play-tent in the background, too.

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Image 0028-4509 Canon PowerShot S45 1/249 sec., f/6.3 2004:05:22 15:54:56 UTC

Helping Daddy with the gardening, Part II: cleaning up. After all that dirty work, I had to make sure Daddy's feet and legs were properly washed. I got a bit wet too, but Daddy didn't manage to clean off my dirt moustache.

My latest trick! I know you're about to use that bright flashy thing again...

Image 0028-4522 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/2.8 2004:05:23 18:09:42 UTC