My boy – Little R

My happy, easy-going, sweet little cherub baby.  He makes me so happy, and our family feels complete now that he’s here.

He started smiling at 7 weeks, not those I-can’t-control-my-facial-muscles baby smiles, but real deliberate “I know you” smiles.  And he hasn’t stopped smiling since.  He is the happiest baby I’ve ever known.  He smiles at just about everyone whose eyes meet his, sometimes with a coy, side-smile, sometimes with a full-blown grin.  I only have to glance at him and his face erupts in to a big, joyful, gummy smile.  Oh that smile, it pinches my heart every time!

He also started to murmur at 7 weeks, sounding like he was trying to talk with his mouth shut.  Nowadays, at 4 and a half months old, his sounds now include “e-gooooooo”, “booooo”, “e-llll”, and “vvvvvvv”, and of course good old fashioned blowing slobbery raspberries.  He’s just found his voice and started getting real loud, squealing happily as if to say “Look at this wonderful noise I can make, isn’t this awesome?!”.  Big R is convinced he’s trying to say “hello” and will succeed any minute.

He adores his big sister. She makes him giggle with her antics, and he seems to enjoy being constantly cuddled and squashed by the little mini-Mum.

Whereas I would say his sister is a brand new soul, Little R would be an old one. He could convince you that he’s been here before, most of the time regarding the world around him calmly, with no hint of surprise.

He has recently learned that he can bring things that are in his hands up to his mouth. Sometimes he still drops them before they get there though, and you see a slight confusion cross his face as his empty hand finds his mouth, as if to say “Wait….where did it go?” He’s just beginning to master the art of controlling the movement of his hands so he can grab things that are dangling in front of him all by himself. It’s just as amazing watching these subtle beginnings of a human life the second time round as it was the first.

I am so, so grateful for Little R’s hassle-free sleep habits.  There have been unsettled nights spotted about here and there, but never consistently for any length of time, and never to the level that his sister took us to *shudder*.  He has always been able to quietly drift off to sleep in his own time if laid down at the right moment of sleepy wakefulness.  We had to move him in to his cot in his own room at 3 months, not willingly, but because he simply wouldn’t fit in the bassinett we had in our room anymore.  A new sleep-related challenge for us is dealing with the fact that he still seems to need to be swaddled/wrapped, but he’s so big he can bust out of any wrap or swaddle we try to put him in, meaning we occasionally have to re-wrap him multiple times after laying him down.  I’m also trying not to rock him to get him sleepy as much anymore, only because he is so heavy and my back and shoulders and arms just can’t take it anymore!

He has such a beautiful nature, so content and happy to go with the flow. I definitely take advantage of his patience, sometimes a little too much, when he eventually starts to protest and I know I’ve pushed it too far.  But it’s nice to know I can go out and do whatever I need to do, and not have to worry that I’ll have a screaming, unhappy baby on my hands.  This has only happened once with Little R, oh that was a horrendous experience.  Let’s hope never to be repeated.  Stay cool, baby, stay cool.

His skin is as soft as milk.  Even though he had no eyelashes when born, he now has lush, dark ones that open up his wide sky-blue eyes.  When he’s asleep, he does a little “duck-face” pout with his chubby little lips.

It makes me quietly smug to be able to say that I am the one he adores the most.  His gaze follows me as I wander around, even if someone else is holding him or talking to him.  He’ll whinge sometimes if I’m not there, only to change to a relieved giggle once I’m back.  He is definitely a Mummy’s boy.  I kind of hope he always stays one.  I always said that when this one was born, he would “be MY friend!”.

He is giving me the gift of experiencing a happy babyhood.  From the moment he entered the world I felt so connected to him, and that bond has remained strong.  It’s different to what I have with his sister.  He knew me straight away and I knew him.  I’m loving this time at home with him, I can’t imagine it being any other way and although I know the time will come for me to go back to work and Little R to go off to childcare like his sister did before him, I’m just trying to stay present and mindful and enjoy every moment with him.  My last baby.