You scratch your nose, you scratch mine

It doesn't seem to matter how snuggly George's little mits fit, he always seems to wake up with his hands free and a scratch (or four or five) somewhere – usually on his head.

Mummy keeps his nails nice and short but somehow he still manages to scratch himself. The other day he gave himself a long line that stretched from the top of his ear almost to his little nostril and together with the red dash on his nose and the marks on his head from previous days, looked as if we'd been putting him to bed in a bramble bush.

It bothers us a lot more than it does him – especially when it's shopping day. Instead of proudly showing him off, mummy and daddy give him much more of a lower profile to avoid the looks that say 'just what have you been doing to that poor baby?'.

This week daddy didn't feel quite so much of a paranoid parent – George managed to hang on to daddy's face long enough to give him a matching scratch on his nose which certainly got people feeling sorry for him instead...

George needed feeding half way through a shopping trip, so mummy and daddy went to the nearest cafe where mummy sat down to give George his bottle and daddy joined the queue for refreshments. Daddy returned to the table with coffee and tea and two little jugs of milk only to realise that he'd forgotten the teaspoons. Two ladies on the next table overheard his muttering and took pity on him when they saw his attempt to stir coffee by a) swishing it about, and b) using his finger. So much so that one of them got up and walked all the way across the crowded cafe just to fetch two teaspoons. How kind was that? With results like that George can scratch daddy's nose any time.

What mummy and daddy have noticed they have been enjoying over the past few months is the way they have been able to expand their use of the English language. George should be no different to all the other kids who grow up with fantastic imaginations when he has started life listening to sentences such as:

"There's a row of animals stuck to your bottom."

"Oh dear, you've got sick on the cow's hoof now."

"How did you get that elephant on your head?"

"I wish that darn crab would shut up."

"Are you looking at my slipper?"

(Of course, the last sentence has more impact when repeated Robert De Niro style).

Our funny little fella

It's magical to see George changing (not his nappy) and becoming more interactive. He's started to do things such as arch his back when you go to lift him out of the car seat, and put his hands out on sight of anything bottle shaped.

It's great to see his little personality beginning to evolve and there are a few things that make us smile. Every time you say 'hello' he smiles and then bashfully buries his head in mummy or daddy's armpit – bashful being the operative word as his little noggin can deliver headbutts of considerable force. He can also cling on to mummy's hair like a strongman pulling a lorry, and when mummy starts saying 'ow, ow, ow', that's his cue to do a bigger smile and tug a little harder – not so funny for mummy.

Some of his facial expressions are quite amusing too – and sometimes there's a touch of mummy or daddy in them. Today is the first really windy day he has experienced and his first impression, much like the first time he felt rain, was one of disapproval. Very similar to daddy's frown, George looked around as if to say 'is there really any need...?'

There's one thing George can do that daddy hadn't even thought of, let alone tried, and that's sneeze and fart at the same time. George was sitting up on his towel all ready for his nightly bath and the eruption of noise at both ends made mummy and daddy snigger naughtily. George obviously thought he was doing something right and after a little smile repeated his sneeze/fart party piece three times in a row. That's my boy!

Wising up too soon

Well, we thought last week's fireworks might have kept George awake but he slept through all the whizzing and banging.

Strange, because the one thing that makes him stir in his sleep is the tiniest creak and slightest squeak of the door and its handle as we creep in to check on him just before we go to bed.

There's another thing that has started to wake him up in the night – teething. Mummy rubs some soothing banana-flavoured gel on his gums and that seems to enable him to settle back down.

George has been trying new flavours as the weaning process progresses and, with teeth on the way, has started to look longingly as mummy and daddy sip tea, coffee or even wine – just the other day he gripped the stem of mummy's glass as if he was going to wrestle it from her grasp – or eat their breakfast or lunch, which doesn't always coincide with his eating schedule.

It makes it very tempting to stick a bit of chocolate on the end of your finger so that he can have a taste (of course, we don't) and to avoid the guilty feeling that kicks in when George stares at mummy and daddy as if they're being deliberately mean, we've taken to hiding behind him while he occupies himself with throwing toys around and bashing hell out of his activity thingy.

It's never long before he realises what's going on and he's soon back – sitting on your lap and making sure he's not missing out on anything – and I think we may have made a rod for our own backs with this one. George needs almost constant attention during his waking hours. He can play on his own for a little while but is truly happy when he's got company, which seems to come with the condition that you're not allowed to sit down.

George is at his happiest when he's out and about seeing things – and when he's at home he's happiest when mummy and daddy are carrying him round the house to look at the cooker, the bookcase, the blinds in the conservatory, the pictures on the wall or the handles on the cupboards. Mummy and daddy soon tire of this little game and take a seat in the lounge, whereon George will straighten his legs and stand on your lap as if to say 'you can sit down, but I'm not sitting down until you get up again.' His little legs stamp about, dangerously close to daddy's groin, and his knees and hips wobble away – does anyone know where we can get a Las Vegas-era Elvis jumpsuit in 6-9 months size?

Scary moments

George caused a bit of a stir at the supermarket this week. As it was Halloween mummy had bought him a special costume – specifically for a Halloween-themed mums and babies morning when all the bundles of joy got dressed up as little horrors such as skeletons, pumpkins and witches. However, she was determined to get her money's worth and George descended on Morrisons dressed as a bat.

The fact that he was bright purple was enough to attract plenty of attention, but the bat ears and the bat wings attached to his sleeves drew many a smile and quite a few comments too.

Of course, he's not the first George to dress up as a bat, George Clooney did it too and he was a grown man at the time - you never know, our George might one day become the saviour of Gotham City too.

Today, George met his great nan for the first time – which was nice in a way but tinged with melancholy in other respects. With an age gap of more than 90 years, the chances are George won't remember his great nan in years to come and as his great nan's eyesight is pretty poor, she probably doesn't really know what he looks like either. Still, she seemed happy to hold his tiny hand and give his chubby little legs a squeeze – and it was sort of special to have four generations together at the same time.

Apart from meeting his great nan, visiting a care home was a new experience for George. Daddy remembers visiting his own great nan in a care home and being scared of the old ladies who reached out from their zimmer frames for a cuddle – but it didn't seem to scare George who, being too young to know any different, enjoyed being the centre of attention once again. The staff all stopped in their tracks to coo at him and the old ladies, who probably don't get to see many babies, loved him too. Even though daddy to this day, like many people, isn't a big fan of visiting care homes, he was certainly glad he remembered not to use the mini-scent spray he got for his birthday.