This week Harry has been doing his best to talk, although his only recognisable words at the moment are 'cat' and 'car'. At least, we know what he means, even though both of these sound like a high-pitched 'gaaaaah'. The presence of either Poppy or any sort of vehicle produces the same excited response. But he is really babbling now, almost conversing with us in his own language, often using 'words' of two syllables.
Harry adores Poppy the cat, and she will tolerate him up to a point. But he is very enthusiastic in his petting and chasing of Poppy, and sooner or later she loses patience and takes a swipe at him. Harry is always devastated when this happens but he is never deterred.
We seem to have spent a lot of time at the funfair this summer - and especially over the last two weekends. But Charlie never tires of riding on fire engines, helicopers, trains and swinging chairs and we do love watching him enjoying himself.
Last weekend the fairground came to Ashburton Park so, of course, we had a little stroll round there for Charlie to have a go on a few rides. He is getting pretty confident at the fairground now - a far cry from his first, frozen-with-fear ride on a merry-go-round earlier this summer. Harry also had his very first go on a ride - the spinning tea-cups - with Gareth. He seemed fairly non-plussed by the experience to be honest. Still, by next summer no doubt he'll be loving it as much as Charlie does now, and then a trip to the fairground will start to become very expensive indeed..
