It’s insidious. At first it’s just a phrase here or a tone of voice there, then one day you have whole conversations that echo through the generations. But the worst thing is when you find yourself looking for a hankie to lick to wipe their faces clean :O

We hadn’t been to Cockington Green for a while so we took a quick trip to Canberra last week to hang out with Daddy and take in the sites (again).

Hugo walked into the “holiday house” (serviced apartment) and exclaimed in a voice of hushed awe “Mummy, it’s so CLEAN!” - “Clean compared to what?” - “Our house!”. Hmmmm …

Canberra, like Copenhagen, is nice and flat so bike riding is an achievable pastime. I thought, in the interests of research and practise, I’d hire a bike with a baby-trailer and see how we all went. So, Sophia hated her helmet and spent the whole hour crying and alternating between trying to pull her head off to get the helmet away, and trying to pull Hugo’s head off just to vent her general irritation at the world. Hugo spent the whole time huddled cowering in the corner, arms covering head in an attempt to ward off her flailing arms, half laughing and half crying.

It’s fair to say it wasn’t a raging success.

A month or so ago, I was talking to one of the other mums at the park after preschool. She described seeing Hugo in the ‘home corner’ (play kitchen area), attired in a lovely pink dress, serving breakfast to several of the other boys - all similarly attired.

Last weekend, Hugo had a sleepover at Aunty Livvy’s house. We arrived in time for her Tupperware/Nutrimetics party. He was quite keen on “plastic bowls”, he informed me. Later, after we’d left him there, he had a mini-facial from the nutrimetics lady, who he described as “beautiful”.

Last night, he was playing with a random assortment of toys and told me “this one is lipstick, Mum”. “Ok. What do you use lipstick for?”. “It’s to put on the cats” ….. hmm ok, it’s a work in progress

Hugo is four! His party went well, everyone had lots of fun (I hope!).

The last four years have passed so quickly.