Manchild

George hits double figures this weekend – he'll be ten weeks old – and he's starting his bad habits early.

The first ones – and the obvious ones – are the burping after meals and the farting. Noises so grown-up that his parents often have to ask each other if it was them or George who trumpeted in such a mighty fashion.

George has now spotted the TV, which has become a bit of a distraction at feeding time. You can see his train of thought – 'boob or TV? boob or TV?'. Usually boob wins and George will throw his head in the direction of lunch.

He's had a bit of a snuffle this week too, and not just a baby snuffle – this one's a real manly cold. And even though there's this Swine Flu going round, it's more likely to be Wine Flu in our house. Anyway, he's coped with it pretty well and has even made something of a game out of it. A bit like one of those bash-the-mole-on-the-head-when-he-pops-up games, mummy and daddy have been playing 'Catch the Bogey'. Just when you think you've got it, it shoots back up his nose.

Another game we've been playing is 'Guess What He's Trying to Say'. Obviously he isn't trying to say anything at ten weeks, but the gurgling sounds are becoming more phonetically recognisable. Mummy's been repeating "m-m-m-m-m" sounds in the hope that George's first word might be "mummy". Daddy's been going "d-d-d-d-d". Then, when George does make a sound, mummy will say, "hey, that sounded like 'momma' to me", and daddy will disagree – "no, surely it was 'dodecahedron'".

There's a long way to go before he's actually talking, but the manly behaviour is picking up pace – he has even started hogging the sofa!