Cousins

This is Arlo playing with his little cousin George. They both love stripes and have a habit of wearing the same outfits. Arlo is mad about him already.

This is Arlo playing with his little cousin Archie. Even though he's a year older than Archie, the way Arlo treats him - with soft squeezes and slobbery kisses anywhere on his face - is very gentle and makes me very proud. He tries to share his toys with Archie even though Archie's little hands aren't quite big enough to hold them yet.

Having never had cousins my own age, I'm so excited for Arlo to grow up with four (so far!) cousins that he can run around with, teach and learn from. They're all so close in age that it's really exciting to think of all the adventures they will have together. After being the youngest in most situations for so long, it's also really nice to see Arlo being the oldest, taking on a new role with his two newest cousins. So far he's good at sharing. Phew!

When we're out and about around town we often get stopped by other children waving into the pushchair and saying "hello Baby Arlo!" It's happened a couple of times this weekend and it makes me realise that he has a whole social life of his own going on at his childminder's, with some little friends that I haven't even met. He's not the youngest there anymore either, which is a bit of an eye-opener for me. When he first started going these he was so little - truly a baby still. He could only just sit up, and all his meals were milk. Milk that, in the early days at least, was expressed in train toilets and in-between client meetings while I was at work. (Proud to say I never had a leaky-boob-during-meeting situation, although it definitely got close).

Now he wolfs down three meals a day, has his own little circles of friends and family, and has learnt so much that he has things to teach others. He knows what noise a lion makes, and what noise a monkey makes. He can say "whaaaassssatt??" and point at things so he can learn new words, which he does about a hundred times a day. He's growing up. I miss him as a baby, but I'm also bloody excited to see more of him as a boy. Him and his little cousins too.