Yes, I love you!

Duncan is talking a bit more these days. When you ask him if he wants something, he'll answer with either yes or no thanks, followed by the subject of the question. So I might ask if he wants some soup; 'no thanks, soup', or if I ask if will say goodbye to Daddy when he's going to work, he says 'yes, bye-bye Daddy.' He also uses this when he doesn't want to do something, so I might ask him to tidy his trains at night, and he says 'no thanks, trains in box.' It's such a polite way to refuse!

There was an incident yesterday when Gordon, Thomas and Lady returned from the shop. Duncan was crying and stopping them from opening the front door, because he wanted a new toy train, and I think that he knew they wouldn't have it and wanted to put off the certainty of dealing with his disappointment for as long as possible. Anyway, he tantrumed, everyone was cross about all the noise and fuss and for a while I felt so overloaded myself that I started to cry for a few minutes. Duncan was sitting right beside me at that point, and was crying himself, but he immediately noticed what I was doing, he stared into my eyes and started stroking me and kissing me in a most concerned manner saying 'kiss it better' over and over. He said, 'Duncan so sad, Mummy happy.' And he did make me happy again.

Later, the children all had a bath (and played with the new squeezy Thomas bath-toy) before bed. Duncan was tired and wanted to lie in my bed for a while. I tucked him in, and hugged him tight, saying 'I love you', he spontaneously responded with, 'yes, I love you.' Then he said 'Mummy cuddle Duncan.' So I did, but not how he wanted, so he clarified, 'Mummy and Duncan lie down, Mummy's bed' So I lay beside him for a few minutes to hug him properly.

This morning, Thomas had a request with his morning cuddle, 'Mummy, will you buy me a baby sister?' I laughed, then asked him if he knew where babies comes from, and he said that they grow in my broom!