Special Nathan

Lucy Ann Wanjiku is convinced her son Nathan is very extraordinary.
She shares with BabyLove.

At birth, Nathan weighed close to 4kgs; the first indication that he was special. He was a peaceful calm baby, which allowed me to heal faster than usual —I had ample time to rest.

Another sinister thing is that he refused to breastfeed within the first week, no matter how desperately I tried. He would not even feed on the milk I expressed. The paediatrician advised us to feed him on formula milk. Now, that made me feel left out, because I really wanted the bonding that comes with nursing him.

To make up for the bonding, I stayed longer with him than the three months’ leave given. I went back to work when he was seven months old.

At first, weaning him was tricky.
He was a bit too picky. Making his purees and feeding him stretched my creativity. Otherwise the food would end up everywhere else but in his mouth. Fortunately, it did not take long to master his favourite food and eating pattern. He is responding to that by growing very fast.

best moments
The first time he said ma, I was so elated. He knew me!

Then there was this time his sweet gum had some white stuff. After a few failed attempts of trying to wipe it off, I realised what it was. A tooth!

His first steps at nine months. Almost threw me out of this world. He was getting independent quite early!

Now he is very attentive to what my hubby and I do or say and repeats it almost exactly. The faltering in his imitation does not deter him from the imitating spirit.

The other thing is that Nathan is asthmatic. He first had an attack at nine months, which put me in some frenzy.

scary moments
When I first went back to work, I had the looming images of my house girl mistreating him or Nathan being unwell. The stories of house-helps abandoning children when their employers were at work even made it worse.

So when I got a call one morning, (just as he had turned one) informing that Nathan had fallen while playing and that blood was oozing from his eye, you can imagine the panic that went through me as I ran home. Fortunately, as bad as the cut was, it did not injure the eye. It got a few stitches and has now healed impressively.

The other thing is that Nathan is asthmatic. He first had an attack at nine months, which put me in some frenzy. We rushed him to the hospital where he was administered to using an inhaler that stabilized his breathing. He uses it up to date. I try as much as I can to keep off the asthmatic triggers from him. Therefore strong scents, pet fur and strong wind are a no-no to Nathan.

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