Alex had his birthday party at nursery today.

Funny how you turn into your mum when you became one yourself.

I baked a carrot and raisin cake as a birthday cake for Alex. I also packed 18 party packs containing a pack of Madeline (small cake), a packet of mini Pringles, a pack of fruity sweets and two small toys to be given to his class mates. Alex was really excited about the whole thing and offered to help me load them into the car this morning. He is getting really good with sharing and is a very generous boy.

I learned this from my mother. When we were young, my mum used to do the same thing for us, I guess this teaches us to share and I like to believe that it also build part of our character.

Anyway, I also enrol us (Alex and me) into Parent & Toddler Ice Skating Course today. This is a six weeks course for beginners starting in two weeks time - I am really excited.

I want to do something different with Alex and I want him to experience different things, then find one that he really likes. I am not sure if he will take onto this because it requires patience and balance - he has neither at the moment.

Alex is quite clumsy in some area, I would guess that he might not be able to master the sliding movement but then again, I might be wrong because he has changed quite a bit - willing to accept changes and help since his chiropractic adjustments.

His speech is coming along - recently, he began to experiment with tonelity. Using different tonelity to address "ma ma" and "da da". It's quite cute really and we love to hear him call us in different tones. I wished I could record his words and post in here to share with you.

Yesterday, I heard him sing "wheels on the bus" using all the names he knows like "ma ma", "da da", "na na", "pop pop", "cher cher" and "kor kor". This is one big improvement!

He is also using Makaton to sign - something he never wanted to do before. He is signing book, more, toilet, juice and perhaps a few I don't understand (ha ha ha).

I am just so happy with his progress that I forgot what he was like six months ago. I had to constantly go back to my previous posts in my blog to remember the old Alex.

One month and 13 days, Alex is a very different boy. Potty trained (dry day and night), drinking from an open cup in nursery, use Makaton and extremely cheeky.

It makes waking up every morning an exciting day because, you'll never know what he will surprise you with!

Did I wish for this? I think I did!

Not so long ago, I wished that Alex would talk or attempt to - well, my wish came true and all I need now is book myself a day in the monastery. I need peace and quiet - just 24 hours - and I'll be happy!

It's "eh eh eh" all day. Asking me to narrate his every action and wanted me to tell a story while he act the story with his cars. I know it's a fantastic progress - imaginative play and I am so happy but 8 hours of this? I know I shouldn't be complaining but when you are lack of sleep and with a head cold, it is not the best thing that ever happened to you.

Anyway, he has two new words today. "Net" and "Neck".

While watching The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse this morning, he said "net" when a picture of a net appeared on the screen. He looked at me and said "net", I just say "Well done" but not make a big fuss. He was happy and of course, I was really proud of him. Then, later in the evening, he said "mama neck" and pointed at his neck. There's a rash on his neck and I asked if he is in pain and he said "hmmm" meaning yes.

He is making more noises, sound and repeat words (although not really accurate) more often lately and that's really a good progress. But, I do need some quiet time sometime .......

Be careful of what you wished for - for it may come true and .............

Well, this is the last time I will write about poo and pee ;-)

Alex is officially potty trained. Dry during the day and will tell us when he wants to go.

No more Pampers yeah!

Potty trained in one week - not bad at all.

While filling in Alex's school admission application form two weeks ago, I was so worried that he would still be in nappy by the time he starts Reception class in 2009. Maybe this is one of the reasons that I am determined to get him trained.

I can hear the cash register sound in my head again ..... Ker Ching ...... the amount we save on nappies. I think I will use the money we save on music lesson for Alex.

I know he loves music but I am not sure which instrument would be easier for him to start with. I personally like piano or violin, but piano requires strong fingers. Alex may find it difficult because his fine motor movements are quite weak.

It's just a thought.

He is turning into a pain in the you know where!

Well actually it's a good thing according to Christina, he is developing his own personality and he knows what he wants. Most neural typical children go through this stage where they rebel and test their boundaries. According to Christina, if Alex is too passive, then we are in trouble.

I could see why he was so difficult for the past few days. He was house bound for two weeks because of chicken pox. Alex is used to going out and about with us and staying at home is not something Alex likes. He would be happier if he could go outdoor to play but the weather has been "yucky" again and hasn't stop drizzling for a week.

He was so defiant and when you tell him "No", he would cry like he is saying "it's not fair" and then ran off and slam the door. It just amazes me to see my nice little Alex turned into a "brat" and I don't know whether I should be angry or laugh. I chose the latter secretly though.

We went to the Speech Therapy yesterday and Angie, our therapist is amazed at his progress. He has a few new words and also used two words to form a sentence (I think). Last week, we were having dinner together and Alex said "more" and then I looked at him and he said "je" meaning more juice. He also said "baa" for bath time and "Sss" for shoe. I also caught him saying "four" and "seven" when we were counting the steps.

Everyone who works with Alex has no doubt that he will talk soon and they all agreed that he is one fast learner. His only trouble is developmental delay (he is currently at around 18 to 20 months) and once he master something, there is no turning back for him.

I have faith that Alex will talk real soon.

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And you think it's safe to take Alex shopping.

My son has grown up all of a sudden.

It's a Monday Bank Holiday today and Jem's at work. I thought I'll take my little boy to Bracknell town centre for a nice walk - for a change. I wanted to get some scrunchies for my hair and maybe another cake tin to bake two cakes at the same time.

As soon as we walk into the mall to get to Bentalls - Guess what? They're closed! (on a Bank Holiday? - what were they thinking?) So, Alex and I walked aimlessly around town to see what we could see. Well, mainly it's Alex. He was the pilot for the day, pulling my hands walking in and out of shops.

First, it was the bookstore "Waterstone". He took me to the children's book section and there was an aquarium with a few small fish. He watched them go round for one nano-second and then asked to go into the lift by the aquarium. I asked him to press the lift and he did just that. All the while refused to let me stop to look at some books.

Then, he took me to the outdoor fountain at the town square. We sat there for about 10 minutes watching the fountain dance. You could see he was really pleased with himself. After that, he took me to McDonalds - I asked if he wanted to go somewhere else but he insisted on McD and that was that. So, we did as the Prince ordered and he fed himself with one tiny help from mummy - getting the food to the table.

As we came out from McD ........ he conveniently pulled me into ELC (Early Learning Centre) and started to play with the toys on display. And then I saw the wooden "Click Clack Cars" - the Speech Therapist used them to assess him and thought it would be a good idea to get one for Alex. But, Alex has other ideas ...... he saw an aeroplane and grab hold of the box and insist that I get them. I have never seen my son so adamant and I said "alright, take this to the lady and pay for it" He obediently took the toy to the counter, gave the cashier the box and I gave him my credit card. He took my card and hand it to the cashier and smiled. How sweet was that?

I still thought it's a good idea to get him the wooden click clack car (but knowing Alex, a good toy to me is not to him. He will play with it for a few seconds to satisfy me and never touch it again) but I know it will end up like the other educational toys that I bought and forgotten in the toy box.

So, we walked out the shop with one happy child who can't wait to get home to play with it.

And true, as soon as we got home - he wanted me to take them out from the box and played with it. He even took the plane to his bed for his afternoon nap and woke up playing with it again.

I am so happy that my son has finally grown and all because we had warm and sunny weather for the past four days.

I woke up this morning to the sound of Alex talking. I quickly grabbed my camera and captured the moment.

He has been talking his own language for sometime now and it happens every time he wakes up in the morning or from an afternoon nap. I could not understand a word but it seemed to make sense to him. He says almost the same thing every time and when I took this video and playback to him, he will repeat after the video - just like when he hears himself sing in the video, he will sing the same song.

He has some imaginative play as well in this video. He lined up the planes last night before going to bed and when he woke up this morning, he played with them. First, he turn the propeller and then he make the sound of the aeroplane taking off and whoosh it about. Previously, he will make the sound and hold the aeroplane in front of his face - this is progress.

He also demonstrated fear while watching Thomas the Tank Engine on TV yesterday. I was ironing (only once in a blue moon) in the lounge accompanying Alex while he watch his shows. He was sitting on the sofa with a lot of cushions surrounding him (he likes his comfort) and then came the part when Percy met with an accident, Alex picked up the cushion and hid behind it and then peek to the side to see what happened to Percy. I have never seen him do that and it's comforting to see that he actually understand what is going on in the show.

More video from this morning to follow. I am so glad that he is progressing.

Finally, I get to sit down to update my blog. Alex is fast asleep and Jeremy's on night shift.

Alex did something new today. We were watching "Little Einsteins" with him this afternoon - if anyone has seen this programme before, you'll know what I'm talking about. But if you haven't, I will try to explain it to you.

When the Little Einsteins have a mission, they always go with their rocket. In order to get the rocket to fly, they will have to pat their laps to power up the rocket to 'blast off'. They always say help them to power up rocket and you are supposed to pat with them. Alex have never done this before - he has been watching this for sometime. Today, he just pat his lap when Leo (the character) asked him to. We were just so happy to see that and clapped with him and laughed.

He liked that and he laughed too.

My mum's having her hip replaced today. Got a text message from Adrinna to say that Mum's alright .... Hurray!!! I do hope that my mum would recover soon and able to walk again. She has been suffering and we all didn't want to see her suffer further and persuaded her to do the ops.

My Mum's strong and I have some of her in me. I know she will be OK and I am not worried.

Old MacDonald had a farm ......

Now that I can drive legally, I thought I'll make a trip to Oxford to see Amelia with Alex. It was a really miserable day and was raining all the way to her place. The journey took slightly more than an hour and Alex had been fantastic. I had the Barney CD playing from the beginning of our journey from home and he enjoyed it so much. He even sang/hum to Old MacDonald and This Old Man. It was the first time he did that.

When we left Oxford at about 3:30pm, we took the M40 and there was an accident at Junction 4 - the queue was about 5 miles long and we were stuck for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Thank God that it was Alex's nap time. He slept the whole time when we were stuck and got up right after we passed the trouble spot. Looks like someone up there is looking out for me .....

When I went to pick Alex up from the nursery, Kayleigh - his carer did the handover. She told me that Alex has been playing with the other children today.

He started off playing alone in the home corner and realised that the other children were playing together at the other end of the room. He went to join them at their table and played with them. They were playing with the toy wild animals and Alex picked the animals up one at a time and asked the children to tell him what they were. All of them responded to his request and were having so much fun.

When Kayleigh told me this, I was so happy. Finally, my son is no longer playing along side but with the other children. I am now waiting for him to speak his first sentence.