Dearest Raffie,

You eleven months old, nearly one! How can this be?! The days, the weeks, the months… They have flown by and that’s because you are such a joy. Always happy and always so much fun! You beautiful baby boy how can you be eleven months old already?!

You are now pulling yourself up to standing no longer content with the bum shuffle/leg drag! You want to walk but can’t quite do it yet although you do cruise just a little bit. You also stand up and ever so slowly then lower yourself down again and sometimes you take one hand off and very nearly do both. It won’t be long and you will be walking for sure!

You’ve been enjoying more of the summer and having your big brother (who makes you laugh even when he’s being a bit of a monkey) and sister giving you their undivided while we take beach days and zoo days and fill the time with fun!

Your good nature has been tested to the limits this month with a massive drive to Cornwall to holiday with my Dad and his family but you just took it all in your stride. We did a seven hour journey without stopping and Florence fed you water (and some ill advised Jaffa cakes in the back – you should see your car seat now)! You were a bit poorly with a virus when we arrived and not quite yourself but we saw a Doctor who reassured me and then within a couple of days were back to yourself. You loved the beach in Polzeath, you ate quite a bit of it and you found great freedom on the beach. he big kids kept you entertained with building you things to play on and in with the sand and you relished their attention.

Then we went to Menorca for a fortinght with Gram. We took off on time and all was going grandly on the flight and then half way through there was some sort of technical issue so we flew back to Norwich where we waited for hours before we flew again. You just smiled. The whole time! When we landed back in Norwich after that first flight it was rather loud and scary (even for the grown ups) and you momentarily looked panicked and cried but I cuddled you and told you I was there and you smiled immediately – amazing! You had so much fun in the sunshine playing in the pool and in the sea and charming everyone in our hotel! You really enjoyed every second of being able to roam about and splash and you especially loved having your Daddy all the time. You even started to reach from me to him instead of the other way around which has never happened before – you are a bit of a Mummy’s boy (which I love)! You have been stoic through your fifth tooth arriving whole on holiday and never failed to make all the waiters and other guests smile at you as you went by like a little celebrity!

This time next month we will be celebrating your first birthday and I’ve some ideas that I’d better get working on for the family party we shall have!