It is the first time that I have cared for my cerebral palsey grandson, Hamish, and what a day it has been. It's now 10.15 pm and I've finally rocked him to sleep and laid him in his cot. Not once has he cried through the day. We've had a wonderful time together. We've played, sang and laughed our way through today but when he arrived here last night he was full of tears and I wondered whether my offer to care for him for a few days, so that his Mum could have a well earned rest, was the right thing to have done. But after my initial fears everything has worked out.

Hamish at 15 months is a wonderful little boy. He cannot yet fully sit-up or crawl but he has his own unique way of getting around by rolling very, very quickly and one cannot leave him on the floor for a minute alone before he is off with steps in the house it can be quite fraught!

He copies everything and will learn something really quickly once shown. He has difficulty with his speech due to his paralyzed palate but he certainly makes it known when he wants something or doesn't want something!

Because Hamish is slightly underweight he has to be fed about every two hours and feeding is a long drawn out process as he still has a little difficulty swallowing mashed food-++. He seemed to enjoy the menu I prepared for him. The dietician allows him to have sugar with his cereal and other fruits so he thoroughly enjoyed the stewed plums with lemon juice and loved my other concoction of mashed mango, avocado and banana.

He loves music and being read to and became extremely excited at the sight of a book. He also watched Disney's Snow White during his supposedly quiet time in the playpen and I could hear him chuckling. I crept close to the playpen and yes he was watching and following the video and was laughing at the antics of the dwarfs and was literally singing along to the tunes in an untuneful way.

He is a real joy and a very special little boy one cannot but help but love him.

When we dropped Devon off last night after a weekend with us, Devon was most upset that Hamish was not going to be there and told his Mum and Dad that he would miss him and would have no one to play with. We told him that it was time for Devon to have his own special time, just like Hamish did, with his Mum and Dad and that Hamish would be back home within a couple of days.

Yes, I can blow bubbles and kick my legs