These are a few of my favourite things

Oliver is pictured with a few of his favourite things.

The purple blanket that Hayley brought back from Connecticut showing buildings in Fairfield. He has always been fascinated by this.

The multi-coloured knitted blanket that my Mum knitted him. He likes to pull it over his face when he is falling asleep in the afternoons.

Two toys from John Lewis that he takes to bed: a monkey and a giraffe.

Here are a few of Oliver's current favourite things to do.

Blowing raspberries. He will wait for the most inopportune moment, look someone straight in the eye and then blow the most enormous raspberry at them.

Biting Julien's nose. Actually he'll bite anything at the moment, probably because he has started teething. When I feed him his bottle he will often take the opportunity to bite my fingers when I stop to wind him. And if he sits up in my arms he will bite my shoulder.

Playing "rough and tumble". This involves either dancing with him by tipping him up and down in my arms, or tumbling him head over heels from the top of my head which he loves.

Sitting up! For the last week Oliver has been able to sit up unaided. He sometimes leans too far forward or backwards and gets himself in a pickle, but he can sit and play without being propped up as long as we keep half an eye on him.

Standing up! He loves to be held up right to get a good view of everything that's going on. He clearly doesn't have the balance to stand alone yet, but he has the strength in his legs to stand for short spells with us balancing him.

Playing on the swings in the park. He is pictured below on the swings at Bruntwood Park with his friend Niamh.