The virtue of patience

I have never prided myself on my patience. It’s a virtue I long for and manage to achieve on fewer occasions than I’d like to.

That’s changing,, of course with the arrival of our daughter. Baby Reuel has been an amazingly patient baby.

Babies cry when they’re hungry. However, in the nights, I’ve found that little Reuel likes to give me time to wake up. She keeps playing by herself until mama’s ready to feed her.

At times, I have felt guilty for making my baby wait. Now I feel she’s teaching me the virtue of patience in her own sweet way by exhibiting it.

Thank you, sweetheart.

Picture credit: balloonlife.com

Look into my eyes ...

I’ve found a new meaning for those words now that my daughter’s beginning to take in the world around her. If she’s awake, we’ve got to talk to her face-to-face and eye-to-eye. If the television’s on, we’ve learnt to ignore it, even if there’s news about floods and coups. Naturally, I ignore the inviting books, newspapers and magazines in favor of a far greater delight – a one-to-one tête-à-tête with the queen of my heart.

Picture credit: multi-medium.net

The cyclist

We’ve changed our mind. Our daughter is going to participate in the Tour de France.

How do we know? Try putting a blanket across her legs. She’ll kick it aside with a series of cycling moves. Every waking moment is spent kicking in the air and moving her hands in the same rhythm too.

I am told that’s the way babies grow and exercise their limbs. That’s fine by me except for the fact that a new realization has dawned on me. When a new mom says she’s busy, I know now what she means. She’s replacing the blanket the baby pushes aside every minute. By the way, ever since we began to time our baby, we found that she accomplishes the feat in 47 seconds at the latest or at least once, in just 7 seconds!

There’s a record maker for you!

Picture credit: bluebicycle.net

The singer

We are very happy for we think we have discovered one of the talents that our daughter will exhibit in the future. She’s going to be a singer.

How do we know? You ought to visit us when she’s in one of her singing moods which vary from moments of hunger to sleepiness to just plain annoyance. The lung power she displays is awesome. It might sound like screaming to some people but to my motherly ears, it all just music. Please pardon her lack of tune for she’s an amateur but a singer is what she’ll be.

That aside, this little bundle of joy is turning out to be a quick learner. My mom likes to sing the baby to sleep. One night, I heard the little angel making a new sound, something between a hum and a coo. I just assumed she was excited about a new discovery. Mamma understood immediately and said, “She’s singing herself to sleep!”

I decided to test the theory and began singing to her. She stopped her ‘singing’ and was asleep in a jiffy!

We’ve got music running all day long now.

Picture credit: teachersparadise.com

The 24x7 tour guides

We’ve discovered a new vocation – that of tour guides.

Here’s how I envisage our brochure will read …

We offer you a choice of destinations – the drawing room, the dining hall, the garden, the terrace and the bedroom. We work 24x7 and are available at first cry. Dawn or dusk, midnight or the wee hours of the morning – we’re always at your service with a smile. For your extra comfort, we’ve mastered a cool language called baby talk, which consists essentially of coos, gurgles, unintelligible words and nonsense sounds.

We recommend the drawing room tour as it is features souvenirs and memorabilia from around the country. Each of these comes with a story that changes according to the time of day.

We’re completely dedicated to providing you the best of personalized service. Why, we even carry you in our arms. We rock you gently so you’re lulled to sleep. That’s how good we are!

You can choose from four specialist guides:
1. Tall, mustache-faced grandfather: Enjoy a panoramic view of the scenery! Known to pass on the tourist to grandmother when unable to satisfy.
2. Warm, ever-huggable grandmother: Highly experienced. Guaranteed comfort in her arms. Don’t forget to ask for a song! She’s got a great voice. Highly recommended.
3. Exhausted mom: Packed with a wealth of information but zero experience, she’s often the last resort. Good guide but needs to brush up on her skills.
4. Weekend dad: Lots of info, little experience but has the unique ability to talk you out of colic pain and frustration at being unable to sleep. Again highly recommended but difficult to obtain an appointment.

We regale you with stories – some imagined, some real. Of course, not that it matters – all you want is the soothing voice, right?

By the way, did I mention, our services are limited to those who weigh between 3 - 6 kgs. We don’t mind if you’re crying or colicky or sleepy. We serve all!

Welcome to parenthood!

Picture credit: exodus.co.uk