Well, peeps, if I’ve correctly read the minds and happy faces of my parents, this last week has been a big one for me. Quite a few things have happened, and I am pretty pleased with myself.

I took my first proper steps last week. I mean ones that I intended to make, rather than the absentminded stumbles that had Mummy asking dementedly “was that a walk??”. I have now taken quite a few in a row, which I believe is how this walking business works. Don’t get me wrong, crawling is still my preferred mode of transport; it gets me places way faster and it’s fun seeing Mummy and Daddy try and keep up.

I also went to my first Halloween party. I was dressed as a pumpkin (that’s right everyone, a bright orange vegetable), and off we went – in public – to show off my costume. The party was a lot of fun – there was a bouncy castle and a ball pool, lots of soft play stuff to climb on, up, over and under, there was cake and Wotsits, some pretty fun little bikes and see-saws and not to mention a lot of my friends. But best of all – get this – there was a fire extinguisher! How cool? I think it’s a permanent fixture in the village hall, and I know that there was all of this other bright, fun and child-friendly kit that had been hired especially, but it was a FIRE EXTINGUISHER! Mummy was pretty frazzled by the time we left, and she certainly did a lot of running around at the party – she was always *right there*, which was annoying and uncool in front of my buddies. That said, apparently it’s also uncool to turn up in the same pumpkin costume as the birthday girl. Awkward.

Because I had taken my first proper steps, and because they wanted to get their money’s worth out of the pumpkin, the grown-ups took me to Clarks to get my first proper pair of shoes. If the bottom of Mummy’s wardrobe, the spare room wardrobe and under the stairs are anything to go by, shoes are a pretty big deal in Mummy’s life. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like the shoes – what’s not to like? Well I’ll tell you what’s not to like – VELCRO. I’m not sure why I feel so emotional about it (some might say irrational), but every time they’re taken on and off I appear to have a bit of a meltdown. I’m now made to wear them in the house, out the house, in the car, out the car, in the buggy, out the buggy so that I ‘get used to them’. I haven’t cried about them for 24 hours now. I haven’t decided my long-term shoe-related behaviour yet, but I’ll keep you posted.

As if the bright orange pumpkin shoe-fitting didn’t constitute a dramatic enough day, I also had my first trip to the dentist on Friday. Everything appears to be ship-shape in there, although I could have told the woman that without her coming at me with those horrible plastic glove things. I cried, she gave me a sticker, I tried to eat the sticker – you know, standard stuff.

So it’s been a pretty exciting week filled with lots of milestones (and the fire extinguisher – don’t forget the fire extinguisher). Then, as the cherry on the cake, I got a new cousin yesterday morning. This is the best news of all, and Mummy keeps showing me photos of a tiny little baby who we all love so much already. So congratulations to my Uncle David, Aunty Vicki and my partner in crime, Munchkin, on the safe arrival of their baby girl pup. We can’t wait to meet her and have cuddles, and I will be handing over the pumpkin costume and warning her about the dangers of shoes and Velcro just as soon as she understands.

Bear xx