Toby was three and a half a few weeks ago. On the one hand it really doesn’t seem that long since his third birthday but then when I think about it that was before we even moved from Scotland, which seems like it was ages ago now.

When you spend every day with a child it’s easy not to notice the changes and developments they make but when I was reading through Toby’s three year update I realised just how much he has changed in the last six months.

I guess I’ll start with the vital statistics – Toby is now 106 cm tall so he’s grown 4 cm in the last 6 months. He’s still sitting above the 91^st centile for his height so he’s still tall for his age but he’s not off the top of the chart like he was when he was two! He has put on 3 lb since his birthday and now weighs 2 st 8 lb. That puts him just above the 50^th centile for weight…which means he’s still super skinny! He’s still wearing mostly 3-4 clothes but a few 5-6 things have found their way into the wardrobe already too. We’re having some trouble with trousers now though, because after the big development of the last six months Toby is no longer wearing nappies. That’s brilliant but it means there’s nothing to keep his trousers up any more!

So yeah, after a tricky start Toby is now completely potty trained, at night too. We’ve only had a couple of real accidents throughout the whole process although he is currently driving me bonkers by waiting until the very last minute to go for a wee and ending up with a dribble in his pants every time. He still uses the potty at home, which currently lives in our hall but that’s mostly for my convenience. He can manage to go on the potty on his own but still needs a bit of help to get on the step for the toilet. We have a funny house with the living room on the middle floor and bathrooms upstairs and downstairs so I can’t really leave Gabe to help Toby with the toilet…and so for the moment the potty in the hall is here to stay. At least it’s not in the living room anymore though!

When Toby had just turned three I wrote “he’s funny and cheeky, polite for the most part, prone to crying when he doesn’t get his own way but rarely has a tantrum” and that is all still true. He was already speaking pretty well at three but now he talks so well it’s hard to remember he’s only three sometimes. He’s very good at expressing his emotions too for the most part, and often likes to tell me ‘you made me sad’ if I stop him doing something or won’t let him have chocolate raisins 20 minutes before tea time, or chocolate milk for breakfast.

He can count to twenty-nine and has finally starting to include the numbers between 13 and 16 too! He has also started to recognise the numbers themselves, and likes to come into our bedroom in the morning and tell me what numbers he can see on the clock. He’s starting to recognise some letters now too and can spell, and almost write, his name.

Toby is very grown up for his age in some ways; he’s really clever, he can do puzzles and jigsaws meant for kids much older than him, he knows his own mind, he is curious and questions everything… and sometimes makes it hard to remember that in many ways he’s still a baby really. Although he will happily play by himself (he loves Duplo at the moment), and he is a superstar at occupying himself while I put Gabe down for his nap every day, there are a lot of times when he doesn’t like to be alone. He has taken to saying ‘I want you to keep me’ meaning ‘keep me company’ but if someone was to overhear him then they might think we’d been talking about giving him away!

He likes to watch Paw Patrol and Dinosaur Train, and he can turn on the PlayStation and find them on Netflix all by himself – I don’t know if this makes me proud or a terrible parent! He only gets a limited time each day though as it sends him a little bit crazy!

He is very affectionate and likes cuddles and kisses (but only when he wants them), he tells us that he loves us every day (although sometimes needs a little reminder about loving Gabe too). He still sucks his thumb and has to have his purple blanket close at hand. His favourite colour is still purple and he loves his dinosaur pants, so much he wants to wear them every day. He is very much a mummy’s boy which is in equal parts lovely and very frustrating when he wants me to do everything for him.

His sleep isn’t quite as good as it has been – I think this is partly a combination of sometimes having to get up for a wee, and also because he knows that Gabe often sleeps in our bed and he doesn’t want to miss out on the cuddles. We’re working on getting him to stay in his own bed again but sometimes it’s easier just to let him into our bed, even if it is a squeeze with all four of us in there!

His early morning wake ups also led us to realise that Toby had learnt how to consciously tell a lie. He has had a Groclock for over a year now and knows very well he is supposed to stay in bed until the sun comes up. We had a couple of mornings where he came into our room and declared ‘Mr Sun came out!’ but then got upset when we checked the time and knew he had lied. We seem to have got over that now, I think because he realised he wouldn’t get away with it!

He eats well on the whole and I certainly wouldn’t call him a fussy eater but he is going through a phase at the moment where he won’t eat ‘messy’ food, so anything in a sauce is out (although apparently this messy rule doesn’t apply to chocolate ice cream!). He has a sweet tooth like me and loves cake and chocolate – after the excesses of Christmas we’re currently trying to convince him that we don’t always have a cupboard full of sweets and that he doesn’t get a chocolate every day after breakfast! He has four different kinds of cereal every day and has to have it in his purple bowl with the green spotty spoon. He still loves chocolate raisins and chips, and has mayonnaise and ketchup (white dip and red dip) with pretty much everything. And he will still shovel in dry Cheerios until they are coming out of his ears.

He loves his blue scooter, and playing in the park. He likes to sit in the driver’s seat of the car and play with all the switches and levers. He plays with Duplo every day and gets cross when Gabe breaks up the things he’s made. If you ask him to name a toy, he’ll always call it Toby. He likes stories at bedtime but will only let me read to him, even though his dad would love to. He likes to ‘roll the dice’ with daddy when they read fantasy adventure books. He has his own ways of doing everything and you’ll be in big trouble if you happen to do something the wrong way. He loves Kinder Eggs and insists on keeping all the toys for ages.

He hasn’t been in the buggy for months but often gets tired when we’re out for a long time and then his favourite means of transport is on my back.

He goes to nursery two days a week and after taking a long time to properly settle in he now goes there happily. He still isn’t keen on wearing a uniform, but at least he’ll be used to it when it comes time to start school in September.

I can’t believe that in another six months my little Toby-bear is going to be four and he will be off to school before we know it. He might drive me crazy half the time but I’ll miss him when he’s at school every day. We need to make the most of the time we have before he starts and I can’t wait to see where the next six months takes us…