I have really been trying to get Rowan to pronounce his words a little more clearly these days. Most other toddlers around us seem to respond quite well to their parents' prompts to repeat the different words they say. Rowan however must have inherited his mother's obstinate and rebellious nature when it comes to taking instruction from others.

This evening after his bath while we were getting ready for bed Rowan needed one of the lights to be turned on and said: "Ight!" I was delighted in the fact that he, for the first time, pronounced the t. When he saw how happy I was he smiled and looked quite proud of himself. I took this as an opportunity to try one more time to get him to repeat some words after me, so I started with: "Rowan, say light." He said nothing. So I tried again and yet again nothing. Then I decided to turn it into a bit of a game. I said: "Dad, say light." After a few seconds Richard realized what I was trying to do and chimed in with "light." We went back and forth between the two of us and then directed a word or two towards Rowan. He actually repeated a couple of words after me and I was very pleased indeed.

Then he decided to make the game a little more interesting and when I said: "Rowan, say water", he said "juice!" This made us all chuckle because for a while now everything that is in liquid form is called juice, even though he always used to call it water. Just before bed as he was on his way to his bedroom I said: "Rowan, say: I love you." He took a second to think about it and then blew me a kiss. That will do son. You do it your way. Have a good night.

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