After Anabelle

After months of trying he has finally mastered rolling! Hooray! He looks so pleased with himself when he manages it. It has become second nature to him now; you put him on his tummy and he is back over in seconds or occasionally he will attempt forward motion first. He's managed a few inches pulling on his arms and pushing with his feet, yes mobile baby will be on his way in the coming months and it will soon be time to baby proof our house.  Other than that he no longer stays still on the floor and will move himself around in circles on his play mat and is constantly playing with his feet, pulling socks off and chewing his toes. Very cute. 

The jumperoo continues to be a firm favourite playtime, especially now he has discovered how to bounce! He goes crazy in there jumping up and down. 

His little personality is really beginning to shine through now and we're discovering the little boy he is going to be. For the most part he is so happy and smiley and mischievous. He loves nothing more than laughing at someone being silly and joining in the game. His favourite playtime of all is interacting with familiar people. He is so noisy now and has really discovered the volume control on his voice, of course his favourite volume is loud and screamy! Haha!   Current new sounds are buhbuh and woowoo. Oh as well as pfffffff raspberry type sounds! 

Call me crazy but we're convinced he recognises his name now. A number of times over the last few weeks he has turned towards the person calling his name. Other people, unprompted by me have also commented that he appears to know his name now, so it is not my imagination. Of course it is sometimes hard to decide if he has turned toward the familiar voice or the sound rather than his name but the fact he has turned towards an unfamiliar person calling his name across the table in a noisy room signifies to me he is at least aware of the sound of his name now. I'm so proud! It is really quite magical watching his discover his identity.

 It is funny how caring for a baby can change your perception of time. Because of Alexander's routine what used to feel like the afternoon now feels 'late' - we get to 5.00pm and we're thinking of tea, wind down time and bedtime.  For the most part Xander leads his own routine and clearly gives us cues he is ready for bed, usually half way through Waybaloo on Cbeebies he is rubbing his eyes and grumbling to be taken upstairs.  

Xander is hugely attracted to screens, whether it be the TV, the ipad or iphone. I can see he is going to be a little boy who is probably going to have to his screen time limited as he gets older! At the moment he probably watches about half hour or so in the morning and another half hour in the evening, the evening being his wind down time before bed. Waybaloo has easily become his favourite programme, his little face lights up even as the music starts. I'm fascinated that already he recognises the tune and how it seems to trigger his 'it must be time to get sleepy' thoughts! That is why I'm annoyed Cbeebies have decided to change their bedtime hour line up. Who knew it would become a pivotal part of our bedtime routine! Haha! 

Up until a few weeks ago we were still swaddling Xander for bed. It has taken him a long time to feel comfortable without the security of the blanket snuggly around him, but at over five months old he was starting to get too big to swaddle. I was anxious now he was learning to roll that he would end up on his front without his arms free and get stuck. The process took weeks! Xander was initially very unimpressed and he took a long time to settle.   First we loosened the swaddle, then we just swaddled one arm and left the other out, then let both arms out and just swaddled his tummy and then finally about ten days ago he started going to bed in big boy sleeping bags!  Another little part of my little baby growing up. 

He seems so big now. More little boy than little baby!  

This month ahead we're going to be practising sitting up. He is very good at sitting up with support from us but not quite able to support himself without. We're practising with a nest cushion around him at the moment, but he wibbles and wobbles and ends up falling over to the side or onto his front. Not that is bothers him, he just lies down and rolls around instead.  So for the moment we'll be playing lots of sitting up games! I don't think it is going to take him too much longer! 

I wonder what skills he will have mastered by month seven?!