Mother's little helper

I never used to like the word ‘cute’. I always reacted to its use in the same way that people much politer than myself react to a certain other C word being casually dropped into conversation, but things have changed since Dylan came along and this week he did something undeniably cute. ‘Endearing’ doesn’t describe it, nor does ‘adorable’. ‘Sweet’ is definitely out of the question – and I still think of that as an S word. No, Dylan has started doing something very cute. He’s taken to fetching Kate’s glasses for her when she’s finished in the shower.

Until recently his fetching and giving habits were random at best and we have become used to feigning delight at receiving such items as pegs, junk mail and crumbs from the toast he has previously swiped from us. Now, however, it seems a lot more targeted – he’s seen that Kate goes for her glasses after the shower and has learned to save her the trouble. He also fetches her watch. Good lad!

In fact, he’s become quite useful around the house. The other day, he discovered the Perspex box that we keep his toys in, prised the lid off and proceeded to tidy his toys away before bedtime. I’ll skate over the fact that he took them all out again and threw them everywhere – it's good practice for later years. We’re lucky he’s such a good boy – most of the time. He eats pretty much everything he is given, drinks water with no fuss and likes having his teeth cleaned. All in all he’s doing quite a lot to earn his keep – not that he needs to, of course, but the help is always welcome.

He’s even helpful when it comes to us making changes to our fantasy football teams. Kate was recently deliberating over which defender to put in her first eleven. “Agger” said Dylan, briefly looking up from his copy of That's not my Train. The following week, we were both trying to choose a striker. “Ba” he said, emphatically. He was right too, Ba got on the scoresheet that weekend. With this in mind, I wondered who would make up Dylan’s full team. Well, dear reader, I’ve studied his sounds and he seems to have selected the following. He’s favoured a 3-4-3 attacking formation...

Dylan’s Baby Babble XI

DIDA

Daniel AGGER, Souleman BAMBA, Kazayuki TODA

YAYA Toure, ABOU Diaby, KAKA, PAPA BOUBA Diop

Demba BA, MAMAdy Sidibe, Roman PAVLYUCHENKO

Yes, one of the strikers is something of a surprise inclusion... but despite his dodgy knee, Demba Ba has a good goalscoring record.