Aidan Andrew McEwan Wansbrough - Aidan's Gallery

Aidan is now 18 months old! This month saw him celebrate his second Christmas, his second visit with his New Zealand grandparents (Nan and Grandad), his second New Year, and culminated in him reaching the grand age of one and a half!

Aidan cut all four cuspids this month, within the space of a week! Aidan, Mummy and Daddy were all very glad when they were all through. Aidan's ear problems persisted, despite the antibiotics, and resulted in his left ear drum perforating the week before Christmas (relieving the pressure and making him feel much better!). He had a third set of antibiotics which seemed to improve matters, but the perforation did not fully heal and it perforated a second time early in the New Year. After a fourth set of antibiotics, this time a different type, he seems to be much improved, although we won't know until he's seen the doctor in a couple of weeks time if the ear drum has fully healed.

Aidan's language continues to develop - he copies lots of words, and has started saying short sentences (such as "bye bye Jonathan" when Uncle Jonathan was leaving). He also started saying "Adin", for "Aidan" - it's the first time he's pronounced the "n" sound.

Aidan becomes increasingly more confident in his ability to balance, run and climb. He can climb a ladder, walk along a beam holding only the parallel bars, and walk up a ramp unassisted. He loves to run around, often screaming or giggling with excitment. His favourite toys at the moment are his stride-to-ride and his trike.

The week before we went to Scotland for Christmas was a very busy one, with five parties in six days! Aidan met Santa for the first time this year. This was lots of fun, but Aidan was very tired by the end of the week.

On Saturday December 18th, we went to Scotland to stay with Grandma and Grandpa. Apart from his sore ear, Aidan had a wonderful time the week before Christmas being the centre of attention as usual! He went to Space Bugs, the soft play area in Linlithgow Sport and Leisure Centre, for the first time and loved it. He certainly managed to tire Mummy, Daddy and Grandma out in the space of 45 minutes! During this week, he worked out a new way of getting things done - taking you by the hand and insisting that you do it for him! For example, he would take us from the kitchen to the front door, so that we could reach up, take the key from the hook, and help him open the front door. This fascination with keys has persisted and is starting to rival his fascination with lights and switches!

Aidan had a great time over Christmas - he was given many lovely presents, and enjoyed spending time with lots of family and friends. He ate his first proper Christmas dinner, and went to his first Christmas morning church service.

On Boxing Day, Nan and Grandad (Daddy's parents) arrived, having come all the way from New Zealand to see him. After a few quiet days in Linlithgow recovering from the journey, and getting to know each other again, Aidan, Mummy, Daddy, Nan and Grandad went to Stirling for a couple of days to celebrate Nan's birthday. Aidan loved visiting Stirling Castle for the first time, and enjoyed going out for pizza, and seeing the town, but he declined the opportunity to climb the Wallace Monument on the grounds that he's not quite up to walking up 246 steps to reach the top, and there really wasn't room for Mummy or Daddy to carry him!

On Hogmanay we returned to Cambridge, and had a wonderful second Christmas on New Years Day, complete with presents and Christmas dinner, with Nan and Grandad. Nan and Grandad were staying for a whole week, and Aidan enjoyed the chance to get to know them a bit better, to teach them some of his favourite games, and to show them some of the things he likes to do during the week, including going to Tumbletots and the soft play area in Ely, Planet Zoom. At the end of the week, Aidan was very sad because he had to take Nan and Grandad to Heathrow Airport and say "Bye Bye" to them as they had to go back home :-( .

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