The verdict is out. Lil' General says that he has no intentions of walking anytime soon. When he can reach his destination faster by crawling and more often than not, as fast as us and sometimes ahead of us, what's the need to be on two's. I agree with him. Makes my life easy..I can't imagine keeping pace with him once he starts walking.
On our recent vacation I was bombarded with queries as to why he wasn't walking. As if I knew! To make matters worse we met a lot of baby girls as old as him and some even a few weeks younger to him, on the way. They were running by their first birthday. Comparison comes naturally to us adults. I was even encouraged to encourage him to walk or get a walker that I have strongly resisted. I believe every child is different and go by their own milestones. There is no point in forcing them when they are not naturally driven. I did not teach him how to turn, roll over, sit, crawl or stand. He learnt it all by himself as every other baby does. So, when the time is right and his muscles are developed I'm sure he'll start walking too.
I'd rather crawl than walk
I love momma. Yes, my son loves me!
Whose doesn’t, you might ask? My 14 month old son doesn’t talk yet; he barely manages a few words and some others that are incomprehensible. Lil’ General and I took turns to fall yesterday. Late afternoon I was reading a magazine sitting on top of the cot. He held onto me and climbed over as he usually does and then went on a rampage pushing and pulling stuff from the side tables. In this process, a pen fell down on the floor and he went reaching for it. Before I could react he lost his balance and did a somersault with head banging on the floor. The loud sound startled my owners downstairs who came rushing within minutes asking if LG had fallen down. His sunken spot and forehead are still slightly swollen. The ice gel helped a great deal and comforted him.
He slept after this episode and got up all ready for the evening walk. I placed his pram and climbed a few steps to close the door as he watched me. I smiled back at him and missed my step and rolled down landing on my back with bruised elbows and knees. The shock on his face was evident. The cheerful boy went mum for a couple of hours clinging to me the whole time, touching my cheeks hugging me and what not. He got back to his normal self only after seeing The Seniol.
Just as my dad gets worried every time I hurt myself even after all these years, my son reciprocated his affection in ways he can. What more can one ask for – loving parents and affecztionate children. We’ve come a full circle.
How to make your momma laugh at 3 a.m. when she is pissed?
It's not exciting to wake up three times in the middle of the night to change your toddler's shorts. Yes, there are nights when he wets his bed so many times. We, as in myself and The Seniol don't believe in putting on diapers causing him discomfort. Infact, usage of his diapers has come to all all-time low. Even earlier, I used it only on long outings and sometimes for evening walks. I guess he has grown conscious of the fact that he is outside and doesn't wet until we are back home, however long it takes.
Last night was one of those long nights when it was hard to get two hours of continuous sleep as LG was quite restless. then, he finally wakes up at 3 a.m. because of hunger, so I am preparing his formula after changing him and I was surprised on looking back at him. There he was sitting upright, fully awake, dancing wildly in the middle of night with arms up in the air. I was amused and had such a laugh that all the tiredness and frustration of getting up so often just disappeared. He proved yet again that he was just a year old; after all it's only a baby who can dance in the middle of the night and cheer his momma.
The day when my kitchen turned into a pool…
….I did not lose my cool. I simply stared at the kitchen floor in disbelief. How could a year old kid, all of 2.5 foot manage to topple the bucket full of water from the raised platform. I had been warned enough times by mom to keep water buckets out of his reach as it’s a kid’s tendency to play with water. So no one was to blame but me for underestimating him. There was no question of cleaning it up in front of him so we just walked away and I tried to put him to sleep. When there is so much water to play with how could he rest. As a result, I changed his dress 3 times before I cleaned up the mess.
When we were planning to have LG, The Seniol used to often tell me that we would have a kid only when he feels I’m mature enough to not blow my top for every silly thing and endure a kid. On an unrelated note, I don’t think any husband thinks their wife is mature! My tempers don’t flare anymore. Sure, there are times when LG doesn’t sleep through the day and I get frustrated. Not because of what he does but because of what I’m not able to do when he is awake. This is just the tip of the iceberg…I’m sure more stories would come here as he starts walking.
Home remedy for Running Nose, cough
LG suffers from cold on and off. Since the beginning of December, it's been quite rough. I've never really resorted to home remedy exclusively and it's always been with a combination of allopathic medicines. Sinarest syrup and Mox antibiotic has been his standard prescription. subjecting him to such a dose of cough syrup and antibiotic this early was beginning to bother me and I slowly started cutting down or using it only when it bothered him so much so that he couldn't sleep peacefully in the night.
This time, after getting back from vacation he was again down with a severe bout of cough and cold. Determined not to try any English medicines, I relied totally on Tulsi water and it worked wonders. No ginger, honey etc. Just Tulsi leaves boiled in water with a tinge of sugar and it give him immense relief within a day. I understand sometimes it does take longer and it doesn't hurt to wait for a day before rushing to the Doc and administering antibiotics.
Joy Ride
A flaming red toy car and a horse with wheels were gifted to LG on his birthday by The Seniol’s colleagues and his granny respectively. He can’t yet ride them independently, so The Seniol and I take turns during the day to drive him around the house. It wasn’t quite safe for him to sit by himself a month back so I sat him on his rides. Now, he has a hang of it and holds on to the sides while in motion. The boy loves the ride that we call NY-Malibu trip. NY and Malibu are his brother Buco Kidoo’s working and vacation homes (I know you don’t get the context – we live in a fantasy land and narrate made-up stories around the characters that live with us everyday).
Vaxigrip – Flu Vaccine
The cold demon and LG are buddies; they meet often and forge a friendship that’s difficult to break. I’m working on building his immunity and consciously stop administering allopathic medicines immediately. On a recent visit to his paediatrician, I noticed the vaccine board had Flu vaccine listed under the advanced section. I checked with the Paed and he advised I could go ahead with it. Vaxigrip, the flu vaccine can apparently be administered to babies above 6 months of age.
