I haven’t written an update on Rex’s progress since he was 3 months old. So much has happened and I have found myself in quite a bad place over the past 6 weeks – but that is a blog post for another time. This post is all about Rex’s development and he has had quite a few firsts since my last post about him.

Giggling and Smiles

One of the things that is really infectious about Rex is his giggle. You can tickle his ribs or the tops of his legs and he will laugh. He will also do the same if you blow raspberries on his tummy! He smiles at pretty much everyone from old ladies in the supermarket to other babies at the rhyme time sessions we go to. The person he smiles for most though is his daddy. He absolutely adores him – and that makes me feel so happy.

Weaning

We decided to start weaning Rex when he was 16 weeks old. To start with we just gave him baby rice mixed with breast milk in the evening. As the weeks progressed we started with a Hipp Organic jar in the evening and have now moved on to pouches at both lunch and tea time, being careful to avoid anything with dairy in. His favourites so far seem to be anything with banana in it and another pouch which has the ingredients red pepper, sweet potato and apple.

I have just been sent a Vital Baby 2 in 1 Steam and Blend so I will be paying a visit to the local Farmers Market and starting to create my own dishes for him. Something I am really looking forward to.

Rolling Over 

Rex first rolled from his back onto his front on 23rd October when he was exactly 17 weeks old. Since then he hasn’t really been that keen! He much prefers laying on his side and gets into a bit of a fuss when he is on his tummy. 

Bath, Book, Bed routine

One of Rex’s absolute favourites is bath time. Usually Grace helps me with this and we take it in turns to get in with him – although, occasionally he will have a bath with daddy. You can see his face light up when we lay him on the bathroom floor to get him undressed. Whatever has gone before, during the witching hour (!) seems to disappear when he knows he is about to have his bath. We always sing ‘5 Little Ducks’ to him first and then he has a wash. 

Once he has had his bath. we get him changed and into his Grobag (which he cries about more often than not!) and then I give him a feed as daddy reads a story. Up until recently, he was reading ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’ by Enid Blyton. I did have to stifle my laughter as we came towards the end of the book though as it was the dated version! 

Once daddy has finished a chapter, I carry on feeding him and, after making sure I have winded him as much as possible, I put him down for a sleep.

Usually he is pretty good for the first part of the night but, come 2 or 3am, he is up pretty much every hour or two. Nights are still hard work! 

Strong Legs and Standing Up

Rex loves standing up. Ross regularly picks him from the floor and stands him up on the sofa shouting ‘King of the World’ which he always smiles at. It appears that he would rather stand than crawl at the moment so time will tell what he really wants to do first. 

If he starts to cry and we are sitting down with him, Rex much prefers it if you stand up and either dance or walk around with him. Sit back down and he starts crying! 

We have started to use his Leapad Disco Doughnut and he loves the sounds and colours although, what I am really looking forward to, is his first use of the Jumperoo. We are picking one up from my sister and I hope he will love it as much as Grace did.

Music and The Creative Galaxy

Rex is definitely a music-lover – just like the rest of the family. At the witching hour (usually between 5.30 and 6.30pm) Grace and I switch on our Roxi Electric Jukebox and have a good old sing song, taking it in turns to sing whilst the other dances with Rex. 

He likes me singing ‘King of Wishful Thinking’ by Go West to him – especially in the bath but his favourite song seems to be ‘I Fought the Law’ by The Clash which Ross usually sings to him. 

I also attend a couple of rhyme times during the week. The first one is at the local children’s centre on a Monday morning and the second is on Wednesday morning at the library in town. The second is great because it is a nice, brisk walk. Rex is usually tired afterwards so we either walk round town or go for a coffee in Waitrose – or should I say cake? With a free coffee if you have a My Waitrose card. They have a little cafe at the back of the shop with enough room for a few mums and their pushchairs.

He seems to like anything bright on television and his favourite so far is The Creative Galaxy which Ross found on Amazon Prime one morning. I can see why. It is bright and colourful and rather lovely! 

Rex’s First Holiday, Swim and Visit to Father Christmas

In the second full week of November we all went to Center Parcs in Longleat for a mid-week break. It did mean that we took Grace out of school but they didn’t seem to have a problem with this. Ross’ parents joined us and we had a lovely time. We were lucky with the weather as it didn’t rain and we booked all our activities before we went.

We arrived a little early on the Monday and decided to go straight to the pool. It was Rex’s first time and he absolutely loved it. He loves his bath so I had a strong feeling that he would enjoy the pool. The following morning we had him booked in for Tiny Turtles which was an introduction for babies to the pool. We had a lovely time and there was little games and songs to help get him used to the water.

Later that afternoon we had booked to see Father Christmas. Sadly Grace knows the score with the man in red now but we have explained to her that it is a very special secret to be in on and that she is now a part of the magic. We walked through Santa’s workshop and were then escorted through a door to see Father Christmas himself. Rex even had the opportunity to sit on his knee. Grace did a brilliant job at chatting to him and he gave Grace and Rex a wonderful gift each. Grace received a nail salon and Rex received a cuddly Rudolph the Reindeer. The other thing that we received was one photo per child. I usually find that this is an added extra when we have been to any Santa visit so this was a lovely surprise. We were really pleased with one particular image so we had two of the same one – and gave one to Ross’ parents.

That evening we went to the magic show at the Pancake House and I was really impressed with how well Rex did. He was such a good baby throughout our holiday and it was lovely that Ross’ parents got to spend time with us.

We also had the chance to take our 3 yearly photo at Longleat. The first was taken in 2011, the next was 2014 and now we have our 2017 – with added Rex! 

Other Favourites

There are a number of other things that Rex likes at the moment. Here they are in no particular order:

• A cuddly lion from Mamas and Papas which we have named Harrison (see what we did there?!). It was given to him by Ross’ best friend Iain and his wife, Patrice. Rex adores him and his squeaky paws! 
• A hanging monkey which we were sent by Little Tikes. This goes everywhere with him as it is either attached to his pushchair or his car seat. Rex clings onto it! 
• The ceiling light in the lounge. Rex has been fascinated by this since he was born and as soon as he could smile it was one of the first things he smiled at. He still does now.
• He absolutely adores his daddy. He is always full of smiles for him. He is exactly the same with Grace.
• He loves tummy raspberries, feet raspberries and face raspberries – or, as I always called them with Grace, ‘smirkles’.
• We play ‘flying Rex’ swooping him around over our heads and ‘best boy in the world’ where we stand him on the sofa as we sit on the floor. He never fails to smile at either.
• We are currently doing a baby aromatherapy course. Rex seems to love it and he really adores the lady who runs it. More to follow on this. 

Vaccinations, Reflux and Growth

Rex is now fully up to date with all of his vaccinations. He was really good at each one. The last round were on 1st December and, bless him, he cried his eyes out and was under the weather for most of the weekend.

His reflux still affects him and we are regularly updating his dosage as he grows. He is gradually getting better and I have steadily started to bring dairy back into my diet. He is not totally cured but he is certainly better than he was.

As of 5th December, Rex weighed 18lb 8oz.

What we are looking forward to next

We are off to Yeovil Hospital this week to see the midwives and nurses who helped us. They are having a 50th birthday celebration and we are looking forward to seeing everyone. We are going to a Christmas-themed sensory messy play which we are really looking forward to and then, of course, there is Rex’s first Christmas.