Mummascribbles – Oscar's first baby sensory class – Mummascribbles

When you are a new mum, there are some things that are just incredibly important to you. Milestones reached that are not the usual first roll, first tooth etc. All of those are important of course but I’m talking about things you do with your baby. For me, taking Oscar to baby sensory is one of those milestones. 

I discovered baby sensory when I had Zach four years ago and remember feeling so nervous when I first went along. As a new mum, it was the first class that I went to and other than my NCT mum’s, it was probably the first time I had mixed with people in that kind of environment. I remember the leader, Madeleine being so welcoming. It wasn’t long before I had made a couple of mummy friends and after class, we would all go for lunch and have a natter while our tired out babies would sleep…and sleep…and sleep!

I loved baby sensory. Ok, at first I felt like an absolute muppet – singing and doing the actions, but from day one, Zach loved it; he was mesmorised by it. Baby Sensory brings wonderful memories for me – remembering the stage where I could suddenly let him go, when he would sit upright all by himself. Remembering him rolling around the floor when he mastered the art of that movement. And remembering that first crawl. My boy saw a bright flashing ball and that was it, he was off to get it. 

So, when I found out I was expecting again and when we were discussing the usual finances – especially when deciding what Zach would be doing class wise – I had to make sure that we could afford for me to take Oscar to baby sensory and thankfully it was ok’d by the other half! 

I know that some people take babies really really young, and please do not take offence if you started your baby early. For me though, I knew around the 3-4 month mark would be the right age – when Oscar would be a lot more alert, not sleeping all the time and happy – able to show me that he is enjoying himself. I therefore reserved my space in the class for after Christmas – the January term. A brand new year and fun to be had with my boy. Only Zach got chicken pox. And then Oscar got chicken pox. And so I had to delay the start by three weeks. Thankfully the class leader is lovely and was totally fine keeping my place for me (which she really didn’t have to do considering I hadn’t paid anything). 

And so this week, we went along to our first class. It’s about a ten minute drive from our house and of course Oscar fell asleep in the car as he hadn’t had a sleep for a while. I was a bit worried about having to wake him up but remembered that it was always the case with Zach all those years ago as it was an even longer car journey back then. Being that we live somewhere different now, it’s with a different leader but upon arriving, she was lovely. What was also lovely was when I bumped into someone I know, in the same class with her six month old. She then introduced me to a couple of other mum’s and I sat with them for the class so I immediately felt comfortable. I then spoke to a couple of mum’s during the middle section of play and wandered round trying all the different things out. I can’t tell you how different it is second time around. How much more confident I felt in this setting compared to when I first went with Zach. I think parenting a second time brings out this can-do attitude and with experience, everything is easier! 

Most importantly, Oscar seemed to love it. He was absolutely mesmorised and spent the whole time focussed intently on everything going on. He was busy looking at me, looking at the other babies, trying to eat the maracas and the foil blanket (he looooved to foil blanket!). He didn’t cry, he didn’t need a feed and he conked out on the way home and stayed asleep long enough for me to eat a couple of hot cross buns and have a cup of tea. As I write this, he is feeding and still extremely tired. We are about to get back in the car to go and pick Zach up from nursery so I am expecting more sleep from him.

I am so chuffed that we are back in baby sensory land and can’t wait to watch him grow through it like Zach did.