We're trying Nathan on meat, starting with fish. It hasn't been a great success so far. The lad isn't too keen on the taste, even something as innocuous as Salmon, and he's been sick a couple of times. This may have been due to other factors so we're going to keep on trying.

Nanna was trying to to teach the lad some words. He kept saying "Da-da", and we decided that this was "teddy". Trying Nathan with "Frog" got something that was closer to "tho" than "da-da", and "Spoon" was returned as "bo". Who can say?

Nathan's still blowing raspberries like a good 'un. This can be disastrous when he's got a mouth full of food.

Another good day. We're getting used to them. Nathan ate loads and slept wellish.

Something I didn't mention in the diary was that Nathan's "lump" in his right side testicle has diminished to nothing. It must have been caused by damage during the operation. It's a few weeks until the surgeon examines him, but we think he'll be pleased with the lad's progress.

A much easier journey back home then the one out. Nathan slept for 2¼ hours in the car.

Bathtime was still hard work. Nathan cries all the way through and we just don't know why. We'd hoped that he'd be happier back home but that wasn't the case.

There's a new trick after bathtime. Nathan's been dressed and is being held, ready for his bottle. When he detects that the bottle is drawing near, he spits his dummy out and open his moth in a bottle receiving shape.

Today's the last full day of our holiday. Things will be different on our return. Mum's going back to work and dad will be looking after the sproglet full time.

It's been two weeks of watching Nathan slowly get better after months of debilitation due to his hernia. The lad's now eating six cube meals with ease. He could hardly manage four cubes before. That's got to make a difference to his weight gain.

We're all so much happier now. Every time he used to cry we worried that it was something serious. We'd got used to living with fear, but it was never easy. Nathan cried tonight, but we weren't worried. It was just wind. Nathan's a lot happier as well. He does lots more laughing and meal times are no longer a battle. Let's hope things continue like this for a long while.

We spent a dry spell in the first rainy day of the holiday with a walk on Oxwich beach. Unfortunately it really poured it down, with a dash of hail just as we were as far away from the car as we could get. Mum and Dad got soaked but Nathan stayed dry under his rain shield.

We're trying to teach the lad the word "No". Especially when he tries to grab mum's glasses or plucks dad's chest hair.

Nathan's got himself a whole host of nicknames, including sproglet, winkle, pickle, little 'un, chooch, choochkin, zwiebel, nat, nate.

We went on a driving tour of the Gower area. Rhossili bay was as spectacular as before but a little too windswept for a little one. Even the surfers seemed to be giving up.

Not only can Nathan sit up, but he's starting to be able to rise to a seated position from a reclining position. Not satisfied with this feat, the lad wants to be on the move. He's not capable of it yet. He'll be sitting up quite happily when he suddenly lurches forward, shoulders over his knees, hands stretched forward. What the lad really wants to do is push up with his arms and crawl around the room. Instead he just lies there. Once that muscle tone appears there'll be no stopping him.

We went to three cliffs again and Nathan kept us safe by scaring away a herd of encroaching cows.

We measured the lad today. He's 72cm (28 inches). Nathan certainly looks like he's grown quite a bit since the operation. The baby ox diet is working. If only he didn't get hungry at 3:00am every morning.