he seems so grown up and getting more independent every day.  from wanting to feed himself, to exploring the world around him.  he is making great progress on walking by holding onto things and walking along side it, sometimes he is even standing without holding onto something, but looks quite shocked when he realises what he has done.  

he is saying 'dad' very clearly now, and sometimes says 'mamma' but only when he is crying for me.  he giggles and says 'mah' when he sees the neighbours cats - we think its actually 'meow' what he is saying because that is what we say to him when we see the cats.  he also says 'baba' now when he sees another baby or a photo of himself.  he is also babbling (baby talk) a lot now, it always feels like he is having a long conversation with us, just sorry we don't understand everything.

we love seeing him explore his surroundings, it's just that he is starting to open cupboards and drawers now (after he had a look to see how we did it).  

when it comes to feeding, Riley isn't a difficult child at all - he will eat anything you give him.  but blueberries and cheese is still his favourite.  

i adore it when he points to something now, to show us what he wants.  he points to his toothbrush every evening when he is in the bath - he loves brushing his teeth.  and every morning when he wakes up he points to all his pictures, money boxes and other things in his room so that i can show them to him.  

he LOVES his books and page through them constantly.  he loves the little photo album i made him with all the photos of our families and says 'baba' when he sees himself and 'dad' when he sees his dad. 

he knows now when we praise him for something he achieved or something cute his done, because when he repeats that - he always looks at us with a big smile on his face! he also understands 'no' but he prefer to ignore it.

he loves his swimming classes and also the music ones.  the music class made him love 'playing drums' with everything he can find.  he is also dancing (shaking his body to even head bopping).  

riley is clapping hands again, he stopped for some strange reason a few months ago, but we have been clapping hands for almost everything - and it worked.  he is also waiving goodbye to anyone and everyone.  

he is definitely his dad's boy when it comes to patience:  if he wants to sleep he wants to sleep NOW and if he wants to eat he wants to eat NOW - not 2 seconds later but right now.  he will also let you know when he wants to do something (like eating) himself and will also object (strongly) when you take something away from him.  

except for his books - his favourite toys are his little crawling ladybug (thank you dawie & marelize), his small toy cars and mommies wool and magazines.  

he adores his dad and get so excited when he get home in the evening.  he also copies every sound wayne makes from brrrroooom to rasberries.  he also loves playing peek-a-boo with his dad.  

he also pulls the cutest facial expressions and loves to lay down on the mat in the lounge (to play with his toys) or will even put his head down on a pillow.

he has 2 bottom teeth at the moment but the top left tooth is so nearly out - you can just about feel the tip of the tooth.

can't believe that the next monthly series blogpost i will do - this little ducky will be one year old!! 

this silly little monkey is getting harder and harder to take pictures of, but here you go:  {we took these in the park on monday}