Tom the Giant

Today was a real watershed for me in terms of realising how much Tom has grown and developed. We went to visit our friends Sam and Kamila, who have just brought home their 4-day old daughter Stella. I was obviously expecting Tom to seem chunky in comparison, but I was genuinely shocked at how light, tiny and (especially) delicate little Stella was. She was 7lb 4oz at birth, almost identical to Tom, but was he really ever that small? Incredible how much little ones develop in such a short time. Nik wasn't quite so taken aback, as she's had some encounters with newborns at the various groups that she takes Tom to, but it really blew me away.

It's been a fairly quiet weekend, which is probably what we all needed, having motored around the country quite a bit in the last week or so. We took Tom swimming at the lovely pool in Hadley yesterday, which he enjoyed for a good 45 minutes before getting grisly. The next Water Babies term starts there next Saturday, so we're hoping he's more receptive than term 1 in Shrewsbury, which resulted in some truly apocalyptic screaming fits. The water at Hadley is beautifully warm, which must help, but it's mainly the atmosphere that relaxes him. Soft lighting, appropriate music and, most important, no bigger kids charging around. Just after swimming, we bumped into George, one of Tom's Water Babies classmates from Shrewsbury, who has the most incredible piercing blue eyes and, much to his mother's delight, no teeth yet at 8 months old.

That's about it. Jude & Richard popped round this afternoon to have a play with Tom, which everyone enjoyed. Time to sign off now, as I can smell a roast gammon joint summoning me upstairs.