Lynne took Gregory to the park in mid-February and straight away he took to the swing, unlike Daisy (who generally got upset on her first few goes on a swing). You can see his feet are a blur so his legs must have been going some.
He's increasingly mobile and explorative. With that, he's also getting more and more cheeky. He looks at me as if to say "no idea who pushed the bag storage box over, Dad". (I'm using the phrase "bag storage box" quite naturally here, as if everyone has one.)
The Allen girls pop over for another session of child photography, so I grab a sneaky return shot as Gregory wonders what it is all about.
Later that Sunday, we had visitors in the form of Louise and Becky. We decided to throw caution to the wind and go for triple bath night.
A few days later, and normal service was resumed. Gregory was increasingly enjoying the bath.
Whilst Gregory regularly uses the settee to haul himself at least partway up, Daisy tries to discourage such practice.
With the sun shining in from the back garden, it was a chance to show just how blue the young boy's eyes are.
He hasn't quite got the hang of this drinking vessel, although it's actually one for the doll not for him (you can see the red box, containing all the doll stuff, is pulled out in the background).
You can spend hundreds of pounds on presents but sometimes it's the cardboard boxes that provide the most fun. Gregory seems to be thrilled by the whole thing as Daisy smiles sweetly.
Uh oh, what do we have here? Looks like we need to get the bottom stair gate in operation, pronto.
Later that day we decided to treat ourselves with a trip to Frankie and Benny's (that counts as a treat in our lives these days). They had a brilliant little feature with a seat which clipped to the table giving Gregory a prime position, which he loved.
Together we selected our menu choices. Well, my menu choices. Gregory will have been on puréed pouch food.
His supported standing is coming along nicely; his use of hair product less so (I think actually it was some sort of cream trying to reduce any dry skin).
Always well-meaning if physically confrontational, Daisy was happy to see her brother standing up and soon got in close.
This is one of Gregory's favourite games at the moment (early March) - repeatedly shovelling round a variety of differently shaped balls. Hours of fun.
This was a photo that Lynne sent me while out with him at some sort of play area (Daisy was in school). His hair has gone a bit crazy with all the static.
This is starting to become a standard picture of harassment, as Gregory pulls himself to get a good look at what Daisy is munching for breakfast.
The cheeky scamp up to some good toy distribution.
As with the above shot, this was Daisy's birthday, for which I had taken the day off. Here, we are at the Museum of Science and Industry, with Gregory having a splendid old time at lunch.
He took very quickly to this particular toy featuring inter-connected cogs, one of a number of physical toys in a play area which enabled us to give him a crawl around.
Of course, no matter what toys you present to a child, they can find entertainment in the most mundane of things. In this case, Gregory imitates his "balls around the kitchen" game (so to speak) by shoving around a couple of plastic bottles.
Gregory Allen - ever the charmer.
We headed to Frankie and Benny's for tea, with Gregory again sitting in the grip-on seat and looking dotingly at his mother.
This is amusing post-ice cream face. He seems to have gone off it now having liked it the very first time.
The next day, at Daisy's birthday party, the sociable little monkey was quick to make a friend.
We drafted in a couple of the local helpers for Gregory watching. Aunty Katie seems to have very definitely plans with the red plastic ball.
Gregory considers whether to do a circuit of this lap as his newly acquired friend magically hurdles into the arena. Or is carried.
Aunty Suze needs little invitation to have a cuddle of Gregory, who looks up at Ellie.
He was very entertained by the Elsa lookalike, throwing in the odd wave to keep her interested.
The weather on the Saturday remained pretty good so I let him have a crawl in the back garden, inevitably chasing a round object.
"Yes! Got it! What now?" he utters with the utmost determination.
It was perhaps getting a bit fresher, so he was soon coated and once more in delivery of a ball.
The Allens invaded (visited) on the Sunday so Gregory switched to angelic mode to maximise potential donations.
Matt and I had constructed this rather large trampoline for Daisy's birthday; and Gregory took to it quite well considering he was far from in control of his motion.
Aunty Katie masters the art of the well known large-fluffy-dog-in-your-face game.
"Hi Dad, whassup?"
We leap forward a couple of weeks and Gregory has now mastered the art of looking yearning and wistful at the door. Lynne may have headed out for a bit this morning, but we'll perhaps never know.
We popped round to Waterdale for an exceedingly well-catered luncheon where Daisy used mind control on Nana Sue to make her dance, whilst Gregory offered her a large, blue, plastic egg.
There's a long tradition of Daisy wearing shades in ever crazier style, and it's time Gregory joined in with that. They stayed on for about three microseconds, though, as was expected. He's got good crazy hair in this shot.
Ever the curious one, he was soon having a close look at one of the places Daisy likes to play, and is now standing pretty stably providing there is something to lean on.
He absolutely loves munching on toast. If there's anything mostly bread-related, he loves it.
He's now also back to grabbing the beaker (as he did when he was bit younger), but at least this time is more effective in that he can get the water into his mouth by tilting it far enough.
Nothing like playing a game of look at me in the mirror.
Daisy hasn't requested a cuddle of Gregory often, but this is one of those times. She will soon run out of size advantage to be able to do this, and already she's looking a bit swamped.
This is a common sight. He spends so much time in the high chair bobbing up and down that he generates quite a bit of backwards movement and, if unchecked, can end up on the other side of the room. He sometimes just doesn't stop moving and a controlling hand to the chest is needed in order to get a spoon of food into his mouth.
He has an endearing reticence with the tower of cups; sometimes trying to take one off the top, sometimes trying to knock it over gently. Here, he started at the bottom but then decided he would attack at green level. Textbook.
Looking a bit trendy in his lounge-cardie.
Easter time and chocolates galore! He's a big fan of chocolate, but we don't give him that much. When we do, it's quickly hoovered up like the taste sensation it must be.
Ready-aim-fire! The end of a tax year is celebrated by ball action in the garden on a warm day (hence the sun shield).
Sheriff Gregory at your service with some of the lego that frequently gets spread far and wide across the lounge carpet.
"What, this? I can do standing easily now." He uses this new-found skill to peruse everywhere, including the big toy storage, er, thing.
Rather than sully his trousers, I let the boy traverse the turf bare-legged as Daisy ran around as if she had been let out of a box.
And then he was one, would you believe.
Or back to the Secret Portal.
