Four animals in a baby

Pa was chatting with his mother over the phone when she suddenly said: "He sounds like a cat!"

Sonny, who was a meter or two from Pa, had decided to commence bawling - a sound which has of late gone up a register, so as to indeed resemble a kitty's wail. A chorus line's worth of felines, at times, going by how long Sonny can keep at it. He can even fling his irritatingly sharp nails about, in a passable imitation of a cat's unsheathed claws. But the thing is, his repertoire is a little more extensive than that: The little fella could mimic half the denizens of Old McDonald's Farm on his own.

Animal impression number two, for instance, is on display when our young 'un starts feeding off Mum. He's become noisy as a pig at the trough these days, with occasional snorting and gulps as he pulls down the milk. He'll drink too fast, stop to cough and spew out droplets, then set to once more, his fists bunched up and getting in the way like little trotters.

After sating his hunger, Sonny has become especially keen to play with his parents, cracking wide smiles and oozing enthusiasm. In fact, when in winsome mode, he morphs into a frisky puppy. His eyes go large and pleading, like a pet from central casting, his body shudders with eagerness to be stroked. If he had a tail, it'd be wagging six ways from Sunday. At times, his enthusiasm so overflows that Sonny suddenly chokes up milk before we can even pick him up.

Most recently, he's added chicken to his range. He's learning to crawl, you see, but not getting far at the moment. The best he can do, while on all fours, is to valiantly raise his head high, then start to literally peck at the floor as his limbs try in vain to gain traction. Bop! Bop! Bop!, goes his head - luckily, on our trusty mattress - his whole body convulsing with effort. In fact, Sonny's pecking routine can kick in when we are holding him too: For some reason (rather like a fowl who's spotted some corn on the floor), he'll suddenly begin bopping away at our shoulder and chin.

Anyway, we might start a pool on what animal he'll next try to imitate. Pa's guess is a worm, when Sonny succeeds in 'crawling'. Wordsworth once wrote of a young child:

with new joy and pride
The little actor cons another part.

But he can't have been thinking of animals!