I've been meaning to write about a few things, in case I forget about them. Robert is getting so grown up, it is so cute, because it's happening in such a small body!
He loves his bath time, and whole bedtime routine, so when I tell him that it's time for his bath, and that he should go upstairs, he immediately goes to the bottom of the stairs and pulls on the stairgate to try and get in! When I open up the stairgate, he climbs the stairs so urgently, and walking behind him all I can see is the back of his head, and the urgent rhythmic climbing.. one knee up, other foot up, knee up, foot up, with the occasional pause as he stops to contemplate a lump of cat fur on the carpet, or some of the other stuff cluttering the edge of the stairs... Before I remind him to carry on climbing, and he does, returning to the same urgent pace as before :) I wish sometimes I could see him from the other way, so I could see what expression he has on his face when he's doing that!
A quick nappy removal and rough clean up, and I stand him up, where he immediately comes close to me, lifting a leg so he can be carried. I love this bit, but I'm not sure why!
And then into the bath. He has discovered the delights of splashing - HARD. I sometimes wonder who comes out of the bathroom wetter - him or me! Tonight though, I managed to keep him interested in other things. I showed him that two of the ball pool balls that were in the bath fitted nicely into one of the bath cups we have (ones with holes in). From then on, he spent AGES taking them in and out of the cup, and then suddenly, he appeared to have worked out that he could turn the cup upside down and they would fall out! The way the balls wouldn't go in sometimes (when the cups were full of water) fascinated him and he kept pushing them hard to make them fit! Then as he was holding the cup upside down, he figured he could place the end of the cup over a ball, and it would be inside the cup! It was truly fascinating watching him tonight in the bath, as he spent ages with this lovely meaningful play. Usually he would have been out of the bath long before, as he would have been splashing, and getting me wet and exasperated! But I was happy to watch him continue :)
My favourite time of the day I think has to be Robert's bedtime. Not only because it means we get a lovely evening to ourselves, but also the routine we share is lovely. I put him down all wrapped up in a towel onto our bed. He usually gets whiney and wriggly at this stage, so I play some tickling games with him, like Round and Round the Garden, or This Little Piggy, or just lifting his arms up and blowing raspberries in his armpits! This makes him happy again so I am able to carry on drying him inbetween tickles!
Then lately - a new item in our bedtime routine - a massage. Using some of the techniques I learnt at baby massage, I massage Robert's legs, then I do his tummy and arms. He finds that bit particularly hilarious as my fingers go up near his neck to go onto his arms, so I often can't resist tickling him as he seems to be anticipating it anyway!
Next up I begin to brush his teeth. Robert is quite accepting of the toothbrush, so I quickly give his teeth a brush, and then hand him the toothbrush for him to "finish off" which of course means chewing it! But while he's doing that, I whip his nappy on without him realising! Sneaky mummy!
Get him all dressed while he's "finishing off" brushing his teeth, then sit him on my lap on the bed for his bedtime story. He's usually very calm by this stage, despite all the tickling earlier! Then last but not least, he has some yummy Mummy Milk, until he's dozy, then off he goes to bed. He whinges most of the time, sometimes cries (and some of those times SCREAMS and needs resettling), but very occasionally he will simply not make any noise but stay still and quiet, before dropping off to sleep.
I adore this bedtime routine, and I think has to be the closest I am to him during the day. Unless I am uber stressed in which case I find the whole bath thing stressful, and then am not in a mood to tickle which makes getting him ready for bed a challenge. But luckily that's not very often. :)
I love my baby boy. I just can't imagine him being a big brother, he's my little Sausage!
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