Rock the Alphabet

RongJu

Your mum has pretty much settled on a Chinese name for you, meaning "flourishing wisdom" because you're so smart, our multilingual son.

Natural History Museum

Phrases

You are starting to put words together ("Let's go" was learnt as a pairing and doesn't count). "Bye Daddy" was your first and now "small spoon", "big shoe", "green apple" and more. Tomorrow you have your first Japanese lesson.

Our first joke

You know your animal sounds. I ask you "What does a lion say?" and you say "Raa". "What does un gato say?" "Miaow", un perro, a horse, una culebra, a sheep, una cabra, a fish, a dolphin, un lobo, and a few more, with sounds I have thrown in for your bath-toy turtle ("Oh no" (he's a pessimist)) and crab too. Yesterday, I asked what Baby Rock says, and suggested "down" (still one of your favourite words, though "big" and "small" are having their moment). So today when I asked again, you answered "down" and caused a laugh from your parents.

18 Months

First holiday

We had a great two-week holiday in the Jaz Mirabel Park resort in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. You loved the infant pools and the sea and got to see fish and a ray and to ride a camel. You developed so much in the time: your language improved and so did your social skills (you started saying "hi" and "bye", the former especially to children).

It's not the sort of holiday I'm used to (having spent years backpacking) but it was a great way to have some lovely time together. Your mum wants to go away again this month.

Happy New Year, my beautiful son.