We had the Bonellas round to visit yesterday afternoon. Their youngest son, Cameron, is about six months older than Alex, so he’s about two-and-a-third years olf now. It’s actually been a year since we last saw them, and Abi and I were amazed at how much Cameron has grown in that time.

Once we got over that amazement, we were fascinated to see how much Cameron could say and do. He can run and jump, which made him a hero in Alex’s book. (One of Alex’s dearest wishes is to be able to jump. He’ll squat down and stand up quickly, often falling over in the process, but his feet never leave the ground.) Cameron says “thank you”, and “please”, and strings words together into whole sentences! It was like a glimpse into Alex’s future, to see what kind of things he’ll be doing in six months’ time. Wow.

It was cool to see the two boys playing together, too. I drop Alex off at nursery in the morning, and occasionally pick him up in the afternoon, but I rarely get the chance to see him interacting with other children. And Alex has never had another baby or toddler round here at the house.

At first, Alex was very unsure about this intruder. He was very clingy. Cameron was playing with Alex’s Po doll, but gave it back when Alex wanted it. Alex grabbed it, but then put on his most serious scowl, as if to say, “just because you gave it to me this time, doesn’t mean that I’m going to trust you.”

By the end of the afternoon, though, they were playing together happily. They were zooming around with Alex’s little block cars, and passing the Pooh ball back and forth. Great fun. We must make sure that it isn’t another year until we see the Bonellas again!