Rory Hitchman, Rex Wakelin and Shiloh White crowned SA’s cutest toddlers

Rory’s parents were “stunned” when he received a post birth diagnosis of Down’s syndrome, now the toddler has given his parents a whole new outlook on life.

When Stacey Gould gave birth to her son Rory, her life changed forever.

Ms Gould and partner Tom Hitchman welcome their only child into the world and were soon told he had a post-partum diagnosis of Down’s syndrome.

While Ms Gould said she was “stunned” at first, her little son immediately began to offer her Happy Valley family a “whole new outlook on life”.

“Obviously your life changes when you have a kid with disability and you meet a different hurdle you weren’t expecting,” she said.

“But he’s given us so much. He’s given us a new understanding for life and that things are different and they don’t always go to plan – but that’s such a good thing.

“He’s the pride and joy of everyone’s life.”

SA’s cutest toddler for 2022 is Rory Hitchman. Picture: Supplied

Rory was born in 2019.

He is now three and loves visiting his family and being around other children.

Ms Gould said over the past six months therapies to aid him to live with his disability had started “falling into place” and he was coming on in leaps and bounds.

She said when he learned to walk she was filled with pride.

“Low muscle tone is a key factor in Down’s syndrome so it takes a little longer for him to develop the muscles and motor skills,” she said.

“We were in the lounge room and the next thing we knew he had pulled himself up … from then on he’s just forever walking and climbing on everything. He hasn’t stopped since.”

Rory was joined by the cutest toddler born in 2020, Rex Wakelin from Southend.

Rex’s mother Kirby Francis said her two-year-old had an “infectious personality” and was “incredibly sweet and caring”.

“Everywhere we go he’ll just see a random stranger and he’ll go up and hug their leg and want to give them a kiss,” she said.

Ms Francis said her son was a typical boy who loved cars, breaking things, was a dare devil and had a thing for his female toddler counterparts.

Supplied Editorial pics for toddler - please not these are not the overall winner but the winner from 2020

Shiloh White is SA’s cutest toddler born in 2021. Picture: Supplied

The cutest SA toddler born in 2021, as voted by you, was Shiloh White.

The one-year-old from Elizabeth Vale was described by her mum Rhiannon Edwards as a missing puzzle piece.

Ms Edwards said she had lost her mother, and Shiloh’s grandmother, two years ago and the birth of Shiloh had brought her family back.

“She feels like the missing piece,” Ms Edwards said.

“She feels like it was my mum giving us a bit of happiness and giving us back a little bit of herself.”