Pigs, pants and now...peas!

I was reading to the boys yesterday, some Apple Tree Farm stories. They love these. Duncan was holding a new pig shaped eraser I had bought; it was his object of choice yesterday. He started telling me different words starting with the sound 'p', pig, pirate, puppy, Pippen, Percy and pants! He was very pleased with himself. Then his little voice was echoing every sentence as I read. Thomas was working out a few words for himself and labeled himself a great reader altogether! It's really nice that we can all enjoy books together now.

Something amazing has been happening here recently; Duncan has started to expand the range of food he will eat. He has always been a very fussy eater. When he was less than a year old, I took him to the paediatrician who diagnosed 'failure to thrive' as he was so low on the weight charts they use to monitor babies. (Those charts have since been scrapped for use with breast-fed children). But he was well skinny and I was always trying to maximise his intake of calories, especially fat and protein. For years he has eaten stuff like spaghetti with butter, cheese and tomato ketchup (and don't you dare try to blend something more nutritious into the ketchup!) and cereals with milk. Oh, and as much chocolate, cake and sweets as he could get hold of.

Now a few weeks ago he decided he wanted to try some fish fingers, having seen them on Charlie and Lola and he liked them. Then he saw Lady and me eating corn on the cob and reached out to try mine. I told him, 'It's corn, like on Pocahontas!' He said 'Home on the Range corn!' then he started to eat, loved it and now eats it every day. Wow, he's actually eating some vegetables! He has also started to eat peas and onions, having first tried them from my plate as he sat on my lap as I ate dinner. It's a bit like the way the other children tried food from my plate when they were weaning!

Now I need to go and help find 'Lego man,' that is, a 2cm high bit of red and yellow plastic. I reckon I spend about 2 hours each week looking all around the house for various very small plastic objects that Duncan has lost and desperately wants. I have regularly thought that if I could really perform just one spell from the Harry Potter books, it would be 'Accio', the 'summoning charm'!