Baby Mina’s Milestones
From the diary of a proud mom…Patricia Wariua-Nyalwal
The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never did. A mother is something absolutely new.
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (1931-1990)
The last 12 months have been the most blissful months in my life. They have given me an entire life time’s experience—more than words can ever say… It was just great to hear her voice when she was born. It surely was an announcement by baby Mina: ’Waaaaaa! Here I come!”
1st Month
Mina smiles a lot especially when she sees new faces—I get myself wondering—is she laughing at their faces? Soon after, she starts murmuring and I murmur back at her and she smiles. She is such a happy baby. Mina sleeps and wakes up exactly 4 hours later! This is one of the wonders of Mother Nature.
2nd Month
Mina still receives visitors with lots of smiles. Her schedule has not changed much.
3rd Month
I’m back to work so I introduce Mina to formula milk at exactly 3 months. For the last few months that I have been around, she has been enjoying exclusive breast feeding—and she breastfeeds like there is no tomorrow. When the time for switching to formula milk comes, she calmly accepts it and gets used to only breastfeeding early in the morning and late in the evening when I come back home from work. But there is this day when I had to travel out of town for a day—it was the longest night for both Mina and I. Milk was just too much without the consumer (Mina) around and when I got back Mina went on strike. She refused to breastfeed and it took some time to woo her back to breastfeeding. In the meantime I was just like a milk factory without a consumer.
4th Month
This is when I first introduced Mina to other foods—I weaned her.
I started with the 3Ps (porridge, pumpkin and pawpaw). Her first reaction was a sneer as she tasted it. She was to later get comfortable with the foods and now, her expression is like ‘ooooooh’. Mina feeds well. Before you give her food her mouth is already open, ready for more.
5th Month
At least for the last 5 months, Mina has not been affected by the immunisations. Last month and this month she gets the Rotavirus vaccination. Since I am not in most of the month—working out of town, I do not have much to write about. Mina’s dad becomes ‘baba na mama’ of the month.
6th Month
The 6th month was marked with style and grace. That’s when Mina was baptised. She did not cry when the water was poured on her head even the priest wondered how much of a ‘hardcore’ she is. Her first trip to Mombasa for a week by flight was exciting. Her ears were pierced in Mombasa (courtesy of her grandma) and we thought she would scream her head off but she only gave one loud screech and that was it. Her hair was trimmed for the first time this month but in two weeks time, she was back to ‘full head’. On the six month, Mina crawls with her stomach and sits without support.
7th Month
During the 1st week of the 7th month, Mina’s first two (upper) teeth pop out. Looking pretty, I admit. During the 3rd week of the 7th month, Mina holds her dad for support and manages to stand without being supported. Standing on her own is such an achievement and once she stands she bounces with celebration then down she goes. At seven months Mina recognizes ‘baba na mama’ and cries when we leave for work.
8th Month
At eight months Mina’s 1st two (lower) teeth sprout out. She stands on her own for a few minutes and before we know it she is down. She loves the sound of ‘baba, mama and nana’. Mina attempts to crawl on her legs instead of stomach. Initially when put in a crawling position she stays still, and looks as if she is wondering, ‘what next?’
9th Month
The ninth month begins and Mina develops a 3rd big tooth on the upper jaw. Mina is more expressive when in protest—how else will we know she is in protest? She crawls very fast. She no longer fits in her small baby cot so she moves to the bigger cot in the next room and we all sleep better at night as she has more space to sleep in all styles. As for ‘baba na mama’ we have the room to ourselves.
10th Month
Colour yellow is just the most attractive to Mina. She is crawling very fast and grabs whatever she finds on her way. Now I clearly understand the term ‘keep out of children’s reach’ after she almost broke my spectacles. Mina now has 3 big teeth on the upper jaw and two teeth on the lower jaw. We are making progress.
11th Month
The teeth increase to eight—four on the upper and four on the lower jaw. Mina feeds with lots of praise—the more you sing, praise or any mention of the word Mina, the more she feeds. Mina starts walking with the support of a stool (she walks as the stool moves – she moves with it) then she becomes ambitious and tries to walk with the table but the table is too heavy – so she can not move with it. Mina takes one foot forward then the other but falls. She gets up like nothing happened then she tries again (a valuable lesson—when we fall down, we get up, and get on with it).
12th Month
Mina’s 1st birthday was a ‘joy to the world’. As usual, the song ‘Happy Birthday Dear Mina’ was one of praise that she thoroughly enjoyed. When given the cake to eat she first tasted it with a sneer, then she liked it and after swallowing, she smiled!
At one year and ten days old Mina actually started walking! What a delightful moment that was! She wobbled around the house with excitement till late at night. It was a sight to behold.
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