Six months

Bobo’s sixth month birthday got off to a sleepy start for me. I had been travelling on work for a couple of days and had landed up back jet lagged and tired. But we had big plans for the big day.

We were officially planning to introduce solids to Bobo. N had lent me a book on Baby-led weaning. The idea is you let the baby feed himself. He learns to eat, to enjoy food and controls his intake based on his needs.

This sounded like a good plan. A few weeks of investment and we would have a baby who would be eating like a pro! (I could already visualize Bobo in his high chair picking his sushi with his chopsticks. Relax grandparents – no sushi for him yet…no chopsticks either)

So the journey began with boiled and sliced carrots, sliced pears and a banana broken into half. Bobo was made to sit on his brand new high chair and covered in a bib. He had been sitting on my lap for weeks now watching me eat and I figured he would enjoy getting a piece of the action finally.

Bobo had also been putting everything in sight into his mouth for over a month. Toys, Mommy’s hands, Mommy’s hair, Daddy’s specs, his blanket…The one thing it turns out he was no good when it came to putting it into his mouth was food. The boiled carrots scattered to the floor mostly. The survivors were crushed in his chubby hands.  The pear pieces joined the carrots. But when a piece reached his mouth, he also shoved his chubby fist in to keep the pear there. Chewing fingers and food together is usually not an efficient way of getting food in.. and finally, Bobo just pushed around the banana till it became a squishy mess on his tray and joined the food lying below his chair. In the end, I am quite sure nothing made it to his stomach but oh boy, did we have a dirty floor to clean or what!

He has been getting better though and trying the various fruits and veggies we have put on his tray since. Even better, he has learnt how to drum his tray in the impersonation of someone eager for their food. And learnt a range of expressions to tell us what he thinks of something (Oranges – face screwed up in annoyance. Sweet Pumpkin – “really? Are you kidding?”)

Huh.

A tiny bit a day goes in. I was rather excited at the thought of cutting down my nursing but looks like that is still sometime away….

So back to his sixth month birthday - After the dalliance with food in the morning, it was time to conquer other worlds. We took him to a lovely neighbourhood café where he got to sit on a high chair for the first time (i.e. not counting the morning of course). I could not have been beaming more had he been winning the Nobel Prize. After months of having lie down or sit in his stroller, this was an achievement.

On the way back home, Bobo also got to ride the bus for the first time. He did a proper jack-in-the-box impersonation, swirling his head rapidly from side to side, amazed at this new worldview.  

It had been a big day for him but it had been even bigger for me watching him suddenly a bit more grown up. He is already old enough for me to dwell in nostalgia about what a tiny infant he was. There was a point in time when the highlight of his day was pumping his left hand in the air like Superman. Now, he is on all fours and actually managed to sit unassisted this morning. Soon it will be crawling, standing up, walking and moving out of home to college.  From treating me like a 24 hour diner, he has also started shooting me these super-special smiles that make me feel like a million dollars.

These are all things that makes me want to pause the moment so that I can enjoy it a while longer. These are also things that makes me eager for the future, since he just grows cuter with each passing day.