A mini milestone

This week something pretty monumental happened in our world. Arlo and I went for a walk without the pushchair for the very first time. Now, I totally get that that is probably VERY boring for everyone else, but for us it's pretty big news actually. I've never felt happy taking him out for a walk without the pushchair as back up before - every time we've tried, he's not wanted to hold my hand, and tried to run off, and we've had to just turn right around and go home again because it's not felt right. These days he seems more grown up, able to understand more, and he happily held hands and chatted away while we walked up the road.

When we got to the little footpaths that take us to the park, I let go of his hand and he trotted along with his bear and his choo choo (the two favourite toys of the moment). He picked leaves and proudly showed them to all the dogs he met en route (they were fairly non-plussed). Once we got to the park, we played at rolling his choo choo down the wooden ramp that I think is meant for much more boring things like press ups and sit ups.

He kept his beloved bear under his arm the whole time - this boy has a lot of bears, all lined up in his bedroom, all lovely gifts given to us when he arrived. And the one he has chosen as his favourite? The same bear his dad (or 'Diddy', as Arlo calls him, which never fails to raise a smile from me, as I remember when Puff Daddy changed his name the first time round) had when he was a little boy. It's just the sweetest thing.