This was an extremely eventful month for us all. With a new job for daddy came a new flat, and for Henry, a completely new set of rules. In the flat Qi Lin is treated as a boy, not a baby, and among other things is given the chance to feed himself. This control over his food is actually very useful because we now have a separate living room, meaning that we no longer eat in the same room as a TV. The bargaining chip has gone, but ‘Hen’ doesn’t seem to mind.

And like a grown-up he now also sleeps in his own bed. Admittedly Qi Lin still sleeps in the same room as us, but he has his own space and respects the boundaries. He even seems to prefer it this way, observed recently with his refusal after given the chance to co-sleep. In the evenings he is allowed to come into our bed for a story, but is always keen to return for sleep. And to add a little more about stories, our rule is that mummy tells Henry a story when he gets his afternoon sleep and daddy does it again in the evening. We make them up and keep them short or risk getting cut off by ‘finished?’

Our floors are tiled here and the total space is a little bigger than before. This gives Henry the chance to practice his bike and as a result has become pretty good. He still relies on stabilisers to stop him from falling but our aim is to give him the chance to co-ordinated his body and grasp a sense of balance. Qi Lin particularly loves riding frantically around after daddy, who is relegated to the massively undersized baby taxi.

The tiled floors are a big help because like every new adult, Henry is learning how to exist without a nappy. For the most part he is in control by telling us when he wants to go to the toilet, and although we still give him a nappy when he sleeps, we intend to phase that out soon too. There have been a couple of bad poo moments which are too disgusting to mention here, but for anyone interested, ponder over this word – ‘bath.’

Late in the month we took Henry to get a vaccination and again, like a grown-up, he handled it in a more mature way. Rather than crying like all the other children, Henry was calm and composed. He offered his left arm, took the pain without flinching, and then suggested the nurse to inject his right. Needless to say we were both surprised and proud of him; he really is growing up.

But like all people, regardless of age, there remains a strong need for comforting. Henry spends most days with mummy and the closeness has made their bond tighter than ever. Mummy is the person Henry runs to for emotional backup. However, there are obviously moments of naughtiness that even mummy takes a strong stand against and Qi Lin response is to phone daddy at work. The conversation is usually very short – just a simple ‘hello’ – but it’s enough for Henry to complain about his hard life and for daddy to hear the truth from mummy.

Henry - so young yet so mature.