I am amazed at how fast he is learning to talk. I know, I know, I said the same thing last month as well as the month before, but it still continues to amaze me. His vocabulary is expanding fast; he is constructing more varied phrases with his words; his pronunciation is much clearer.

He uses two- and three-word phrases all the time. His use of language is also more intentional: he understands what he is saying, rather than just repeating a collection of sounds.

He is now also clearly aware of the two languages in our home, and in some cases knows when to use which one. He says a word, then remembers that he is talking to Eric, and translates.

He uses language to order us around. Previously he expressed his desires – macka! or ut! and so on. Now he orders, Titta nu!, Emme kom! Even a phrase like Emme sitta här, “Mummy sit here”, used to sound like a wish and now sounds like an order. To make his will really clear he shouts it at me and yanks at my skirt at the same time. Or when he wants me to look at something, he grabs my head and tries to turn it while shouting Titta!.

And when I do not do as he wants, he gets screaming mad. He screams and then he gets down on the floor and screams and cries. He doesn’t throw himself on the floor, no, he carefully lowers himself on all fours and then maybe hangs his head, or maybe gets down on his tummy and continues to scream. Obviously he’s modelling this on someone else’s behaviour.

The thing that Adrian most often screams for is not boobs, which used to be his favourite thing in the world. No, his new favourite is film! He has all of a sudden become really fond of watching movies. The first thing he says when I pick him up at nursery is no longer “boob” but “movie”. Hemma Pippi-film, “Pippi movie at home” he says. And the same thing when we first get up in the morning: Sen, Pippi-film, “Pippi movie later”.

He mostly likes to watch Pippi Longstocking movies, and the latest Lotte movie we bought in Estonia. He talks about Teletubbies as well but usually finds them boring when he actually tries to watch them. And he always wants company when watching a movie. On weekend evenings he climbs up on Eric’s desk or our TV sofa and watches some movie with Ingrid. On weekday afternoons when he is tired after nursery, he’d ideally want to just sit in my lap, nurse, and watch a movie at the same time. Getting dinner ready with him in that state is pretty tricky. I bring my laptop to the kitchen and alternate between sitting with him and chopping veggies. He is not at all interested in joining me when I cook, nowadays.

Adrian still likes to nurse but it is becoming less important for him. At the same time he is becoming more aware of what he is doing. It is more of a pleasure and less of a need, perhaps? He sometimes wants to play with my boobs (which I don’t like) and sometimes he feeds his toys at my breast. Dolls, stuffed animals, cars, wooden blocks… everybody and everything likes milk. When he’s done, he considerately pulls my clothes back in place. (Tiss peitu!)

He can be quite considerate and thoughtful with Ingrid, too. Not when they both want the same toy or book – but when he sees Ingrid cry because she’s hit her head, he notices, wants to know what’s up, and comes with his Pippi doll and offers it to her. In the same vein, he doesn’t like movies where people seem to get angry, such as Tjorven och Skrållan where Melker Melkersson gets angry whenever he meets with another accident.

On weekdays he is usually too tired after nursery to want to do anything active at home. On weekends he still likes singing a lot, and books as well. I think he’s tired of all the books at home: he shows a lot more interest in books when we are visiting someone. Our local library has been closed during the summer but I will make an effort to take him there next week.

He likes to listen to CDs with children’s songs, and has sorta-kinda figured out the CD player. He knows how to open and close it, and he know that one of the buttons makes it play music. But he doesn’t have the patience to wait those few seconds it takes for the disc to spin up, and then starts pressing more buttons in the hope of making something happen faster, which doesn’t help. He also likes opening the lid and watching the CD go round and round (ringi ringi!) and taking out the CD to put in a different one. We will have lots of scratched CDs in the house soon.

He’s also become interested in Lego blocks, which he stacks side by side in neat, even rows, eventually covering the whole board. And he plays with the simplest puzzles. We have one with four wooden blocks, for example. He can turn all four to show the same animal, but he cannot yet put them in the right place to complete the animal. He does the same with the magnetic animals we have on the fridge: there are three parts to each animal (head, body, legs) and he can pick out the three parts of a giraffe (kael-illak) but not get them to face the right way. Ingrid sometimes prepares them for him, puts all three pieces in a row but a little bit apart, so he can push them together to complete the animal. At nursery they have two-piece jigsaws (front half of car + rear half of car, for example) and those he can actually put together, because there is obviously only one side that has the jigsaw tab-and-hole.

After all his interest in peeing and pooing while we were in Estonia, we’ve now let him run around without a nappy a lot of the time. Naturally he’s been very pleased about that. I brought out Ingrid’s old poofy knickers and they fit him well. (I’m OK with puddles on the floor but did not want to have to clean up poo from carpets.) He especially likes the ones with butterflies and flowers on them. Hearts or stripes, not so much.

I put rubbered sheets on the sofas, too, but those have turned out to be unnecessary – all the puddles happen when he stands or squats on the ground. He always tells us as soon as he has peed (kiss!) which makes it easy to clean it up after him. And since his pee is effectively odorless, the puddles haven’t been much of an imposition at all. More puddles to wipe up, but fewer nappies to change. When he does have a nappy (because we’re away from home, for example) he also often tells us when he pees, and sometimes he expicitly asks me to change his nappy.

But he never notices a need to pee before he actually does it. And when I take him to the potty (because I think he looks like he might want to pee) he never does. He cannot yet decide to pee. So we’re not potty training yet.

He is clearly right-handed, even though he is not always aware of it. When he tries to eat with his left hand, the result is a mess, and I offer him another spoon for his right hand.

He is still a sceptical eater and is much more likely to say no than yes to new food. However he has now learned to appreciate blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and plums.

He wakes at about 7 to 8 in the morning, sleeps once during the day (at home usually 40 minutes, at nursery an hour or more) and then goes to sleep some time between 7 and 8 in the evening. He wakes to nurse once at around 11, and once more about two hours before he wakes for the morning.