WE were making great progress with the chitter-chatter of toddlerhood.

His babble of new words that he had learnt, but in no particular order, would astound visitors who would comment on how advanced his vocabulary was. We had even got onto three syllable words including ‘accident’ – much used in our home when there was yet another falling over/spillage/dropped food incident.

However, Ben seems to have regressed somewhat. To prehistoric times in actual fact. The little monkey has taken to thinking he is a dinosaur. It’s all very well roaring away as he does but he’s not showing any signs of shaking it off.

There is no advanced warning for visitors to our home that they will be roared at without notice. Those same visitors who marvelled at his emerging speech are the same ones who now look at me with concern when roared at.

It is not just dinosaurs. He also does a very convincing racing car. The trouble with that one, however, is that it is essentially a growl and, combined with the roar, does make for quite a disturbed looking child.

One of my main concerns is that, aside from the noise, there is little else to support the role he is trying to adopt.Many a time I have demonstrated how to be a convincing stegosaurus or stalk about like a tyrannosaurus rex.

But no, he refuses to get fully into character and simply stands there and growls, as if that is enough.

I am hoping this is just another phase.