"Ma? Ba? Ba? Ma?"

Dumpie appears to be a little confused. He wanders around getting Ba and I mixed up. When he's addressing her it's 'Ma? Ba?' and when he's addressing me it's 'Ba? Ma'. Ba quite rightly quipped that he's started to morph the two words - and indeed the two of us - into one main entity of 'Bama' or 'Maba'...we just need to see which one takes root.

Once again reunited with his beloved auntie/surrogate mama, he's in heaven now that he has not one but two maternal figures to boss around and do his bidding. (Although I have to say that Ba draws the line at any nappy changes given that Dumps is on day four of his explosive diahrea problem.)

The little love slug is most fond of climbing up on our laps and smothering us in kisses and groaning with happy delight as he squishes noses and sings out, 'lalalalala...' He's also added another word to his vocabulary, and i suppose it was only a matter of time before "Nah Nah!" (ie. NO) replaced his usual vehement shaking of head to convey his absolute refusal to do something.

Speaking of absolute refusal, Dumps can still be conned at least once a day into doing something he doesn't particularly want to do by telling him NOT to do it. Saying, "Dumps, DON'T kiss Mama" will have him puckering up as quick as you like, and a "Dumpie, DON'T sing 'Bob the Builder'" will have him crooning in seconds. Little imp.

For his part, Egg has developed a massive crush on a pretty blond woman in one of those annoying pop-up computer ads advertising cable television. He keeps begging us to turn on the computer so he can look at her and says that she is his girlfriend and he is going to marry her. Is it me or is he not a bit young for all that?! Moreover, Egg's turned into quite the little flirt lately. Yesterday in the lift with Grandpa he made friends with a young woman and invited her out for ice-cream. From afar, Grandpa witnessed a rather animated conversation which resulted in Egg running back and saying, "She said she was in a hurry" and looking crestfallen.

Poor Egg...he'd better get used to it. There's a long, hard road of interpersonal relationship minefields waiting for him in life. Mind you, he does seem able to bounce back quickly, so that should make things easier. Apparently, while Egg and Grandpa were having ice-cream a little later, there were two rather scantily-clad forty-something Italian women sitting behind them. They were flirting with Egg and Grandpa again suggested that Egg invite them to have ice-cream with them. Egg looked seriously at Grandpa and said, "No, they're not that good-looking".

Today we're off to Grandma's for a change of scene. She has a big backyard where Egg can kick ball to his hearts content and not send me into spasms of anxiety as I witness near-miss after near miss of expensive glass mirrors, photo frames and vases.

It also means that we can get some fresh air, as we've had to keep the balcony windows here on the 36th floor at Dad's closed for fear of Dumps either wriggling out through the bars himself or tossing down various items and maiming some unfortunate who just happens to be walking out the front door at the wrong time. I'm here on a holiday to spend time with family not deal with a lawsuit.

Anyway today is gloriously sunny, I've just changed a nasty nappy so there's at least an hour or two until I have to face that trauma again (we're on day five now...urghhh), and I'm about to sit down to one of my Dad's notorious brunches with homemade falafal and all manner of yummy things. That combination is guaranteed to put a smile on this weary MaBa's face. Tara for now...