Aidan is now eleven and a half months old. On his eleven month "birthday" Aidan had a very special present - Grandma came to visit for a whole week! Aidan and Grandma had lots of fun playing while Mummy and Daddy were at work (and they were very grateful, especially at night and in the early morning, as they were able to get some extra sleep!).

Aidan is still suffering from separation anxiety, and refuses to allow Mummy to leave him in crèche now. Thankfully he will still stay happily enough with Daddy, Grandma or the childminder, so we're hopeful that this phase will not go on for too long.

Aidan had two very exciting weekends recently: visiting some of Mummy and his friends from a web board, and then going on to stay on an organic farm in the Peak District; and visiting his Great-Auntie Jeanne, Great-Uncle Jeff and first-cousin-once-removed, Philip. Aidan loved all the attention and playing new games.

Possibly the major excitment of the last couple of weeks was that Aidan took his first unassisted steps on Wednesday 16th June. He didn't realise he had done it though, and hasn't (that we've seen!) repeated the experiment since. His vocabulary continues to expand, and he now babbles away constantly in a language we have yet to understand!

Aidan had some friends round to play on Monday afternoon, and it was lovely to see Adam and him playing together for the first time. One crawled to the door stood up and started banging his hands against the door, so the other copied him. Then they went and did the same at the radiator! It was really funny to watch.

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Image 0028-4539 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/2.8 2004:06:08 10:54:25 UTC

Aidan at Tumbletots. Every Tuesday Daddy takes Aidan to Gymbabes (Tumbletots for small people), where he has a great time doing all kinds of gymnastics. Here he is crawling along a beam.

Aidan's first haircut! Aidan had his first haircut on Thursday 10th June, when he was just over 11 months old. Here are the before and after shots!

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Image 0028-4588 Canon PowerShot S45 1/999 sec., f/3.2 2004:06:13 14:04:23 UTC

Going down the big slide! Aidan loves slides, and he's been learning how to go down them on his own - shuffling forward, leaning back, and letting go. Sadly this wonderful slide isn't very close to us (it's in the Peak District), but we have a smaller one in the local park.

Houdini strikes again. Door handles will soon pose no threat to Aidan... (we fear the threat to us, however!).

Image 0028-4610 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/2.8 2004:06:19 07:09:01 UTC

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On top of the world! We visited Auntie Jeanne and Uncle Jeff (who both are Great) last weekend, and Aidan climbed this impressive structure (with a little bit of help).

Co-conspirators. After Josh teaching him his latest trick (eating stones), Aidan thought he'd pass on the favour and teach Adam to escape (or at least bang the door!).

Image 0028-4649 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/3.5 2004:06:21 14:55:14 UTC