Golden boy

In another odd piece of synchronicity, here is the Boy Wonder kneeling under a beech tree this afternoon, searching for nuts, on the day when Chris Packham explained about mast years - that is, the cyclical fruiting of beech trees - on Autumnwatch. Sadly, he also described a 30-year research project into the phenomenon which suggests that it's now being disrupted by climate change, and that this may already be putting our beech woods in danger. I can only hope that in another 30 years there will still be beech trees around, for a future generation of our family to investigate and enjoy.

Every time we see the Boy now, he produces more new words. Today's highlights were:

"Weyyees" - wellies
"Wiwul" - squirrel
"Door bowl" (or sometimes, for no obvious reason, "mum bowl") - doorbell
"Tishoo" - a paper hankie (rather than a sneeze, which is "ashoo")

He's still as bossy as can be, telling R and me where to go and what to do. But it's quite possible to negotiate with him, and I'm beyond impressed with the way he weighs up what might be on offer against whatever it is he's being asked to give up, even when there's a quite lot of subtle processing involved. For instance, this afternoon in the closer park to home he'd run himself to a standstill, but was kicking off about the suggestion that it was time for him to go into the pram for a rest. I said, "Can you remember what happens after you've had a rest in the pram in this park? Do we go somewhere else after that...?" And after just a couple of seconds of thought he marched to the pram and climbed in, having processed the question and remembered that after he wakes from his nap we walk to the further park, where the Swedish café provides coffee for R and me, and a glass of water and a cardamom bun for him. I thought it was an amazing demonstration of comprehension, memory and reasoning - but then, he is (as I may possibly have said before) a genius.

And now to this week's Tiny Tuesday results. Once again there were some lovely submissions, and I'd like to thank everyone who took part in the challenge in my final week of hosting. In no particular order, my hearts this week go to:

davidc (I should probably put a trigger warning on this one, for the arachnophobes out there)
Nicoiseannie (be sure to check the extras here too, if you can)
Sheol
trisharooni
Barking

And - again, in no particular order, my Honourable Mentions this week go to:

Paladian
Inverculain
AnnieBelle
Incredibish
DawnP
Cherryflapjack

Please do check out all of these images - they're well worth your time and love. I hope that you'll play again next week, when davidc will be taking over as your host for November; I'd suggest keeping an eye on the Community Challenges page and davidc's journal, to see whether he sets any themes for the month. And finally, if you've ever thought "I could do a better job of hosting than her!" - why not give it a go? I'm sure that H0tamer would be very happy to hear from you, and to add you to his list of victims future hosts.