Toby has been practicing his standing the last couple of weeks so much that he is now much steadier and wobbles less while standing. He reminds me of a little meerkat in the way he pops up and looks around, grinning because he is so pleased with himself.

Toby is loving his food as much as his brother did at the same age. He just loves it all, and gets really cranky if someone is eating something that he isn’t. He sits really well in the high-chair, and is dropping less food as time goes on. I guess more is going into his mouth.

Toby is now pointing at things and making a noise that sounds like he is saying “this”, though it sounds more like “dissss” with a bit of a lisp. He also sounds like he says ‘Nathan’ in the same way that Nathan would say his name when he was little…sort of a ‘neh nen’ sound.

Andrew has been spending more time with Toby which is great. Andrew had been saying that Toby didn’t like being with him, but now he is happy to be held and carried by Daddy. I guess that he is at the age when separation anxiety from Mummy is high.

Toby is just getting stronger and stronger at standing. He quite happily hangs onto his support with just one hand, and occasionally let’s go and balances for a second before either holding on again or sitting down. He is trying to take steps, and would love to climb. He tries to get his right leg up onto whatever he is holding onto, but so far all his supports are too high (couch, big plant pots, chairs, etc) to climb onto. He does love hanging onto the washing basket and pulling all the wet washing out of it, one piece at a time.   Toby also balances in a squat position, and tries to stand up. He always overbalances, because he does this without hanging onto anything.

Toby is very talkative and chats away happily to toys and us. Nathan desperately wants Toby to be able to play with him, and spends a lot of time tickling Toby to make him giggle. Unfortunately, though, Nathan isn’t always gentle with his play, and Toby often complains loudly/cries when Nathan sits on him, picks him up, drags him, rolls him over, or simply pushes him over while he is sitting. When sitting, Toby topples over like a skittle when pushed. Toby does quite a lot of biting these days, and now Nathan has decided that biting is fun and bites Toby on his fingers, head, back and front.

Toby seems to be starting to get interested in books. He still likes chewing on them, but he is starting to turn the pages on the board books. We haven’t spent anywhere near the amount of time reading to Toby as we did to Nathan, but hopefully he will still learn to love reading.

Finally, Toby loves getting outside, and the first thing he heads for is a couple of big tubs that have herbs plants in them. He picks the plants (not helped by Nathan pulling entire plants up by the roots) so that there aren’t many left alive, and so the potting mix is left to pay with and eat. Toby takes handfuls of the potting mix and either drops it onto the ground, or transfers it to a pot next to the tub. That is, of course, when he isn’t eating it. Nathan has been digging holes in the potting mix, and helping Toby to relocate it. We sooooooo need a sand pit!