Things James has now:

• Hair.  Enough to go curly when it gets long, and to look worryingly ‘Hawaiian Sunset’ in the right light.  Or should that be the wrong light?
• Teeth.  3 at the last count, with more coming.  He’s had 2 for what seems like an age, but the telltale signs of proper teething started about a week ago and he’s now sporting a nice big upper incisor to go with his 2 lowers.  The scarcity of teeth hasn’t really stood in his way though, as he half-munches & half-gums more or less anything we give him, including apple, raw carrot, chips, banana.
• Shoes.  He’s not walking yet, but he’s nearly there.  To help him on his way to full mobility, we’ve got him a pair of slipper-ish shoes to wear whilst he’s taking his tentative assisted footsteps.  With a steadying hand or two, he can walk, and there are moments when there’s no physical reason for the handholding.  Around and about the house, there are the odd moments, say when he’s standing, holding onto the sofa, when he forgets he can’t stand on his own, and lets go of the sofa; there follows a couple of seconds of standing before the brain kicks in saying “Oi, you can’t stand yet”, and down he goes.  It feels like one day he’s just going to ‘decide’ to walk, and he’ll be off.
• A temper.  He’s turned into a proper little person, with good moods and bad moods, and times when he’s happy to sit playing with a cardboard box, and other times when he needs constant interaction.  When he’s in a bad mood, and he doesn’t get his own way, we get the full on “laying on back kicking the floor” screaming ab-dabs.  Our usual reaction is to smirk a little, wait for him to ‘get over it’, and then carry on.  It rarely lasts for long.  We keep telling him he’s a little early for those terrible twos we keep hearing about.  He doesn’t seem to care.
• Words.  Just a few, but the available vocabulary seems to grow each week.  He has recognisable versions of ‘Hello’, ‘Bye bye’, ‘Mama’, ‘Dadda’, ‘Harry’ and ‘Brother’, as well as a  very expressive ‘Oooh’, which can mean a number of things, including “That’s new”, “I want that”, “I’m excited by that” and so on.  We also get nodding and shaking of the head, although not always in the right places.
• Waves.  This is a real charmer, and he knows it.  If he’s being cheeky and wandering off somewhere where he probably shouldn’t be, he’ll try to buy some time by giving a little regal wave on the way out.  Strangers in the street get the same treatment (sometimes accompanied by his ‘hello’).

In general, he is a happy, inquisitive little soul.  He’s growing in personality all the time, and acquiring new skills at a blistering rate.  I’m well aware that just about every parent in the land would say something similar of their own offspring, but I make no apologies for that.  Our boy is special, because he’s ours, and we love him to bits.