Today me and Chhavi had to go to work / day care by auto - both to and fro. When getting back home, I let her ride in the auto beside me as opposed to holding her in my arms during the ride. I was pretty scared to do so, since it was her first ride in the auto sitting on the seat.
With me holding on to her for 'her' dear life and her clinging onto my clothes as if to never let go ever, I felt she achieved a huge thing today. I felt she needed to do it, to make her feel partly independent - atleast to her young mind, she would be :)
I am thinking in a few days I should start driving to work and then she would need to sit in the back seat all by herself - so it would be a good start for her. I know that babies in the US (or in most parts of the world) are taught from a very young age to be in a car seat all by themselves, but as an Indian baby, it was a big thing for me and my baby to do this.
I like that during rides or drives, she is the quietest thing that ever could be. Most of the times she's asleep and My God, does she sleep on the bike. If she's not asleep, then she can be quickly quietened by giving her a toy to play with. Sometimes, when I am in the passenger seat of the car, she wants to play with the radio / AC knobs, the hand break, the gears and the AC vents. If not any of those, she wants to try standing up and do the balancing act with one hand as a support on my shoulders and the other hand in mid air, as if she would stand up in a second and she would balance herself throughout the drive - haha !!
On another note, my DD turned 7 months old on the 9th of this month and in the past month, she has learnt to sit up in the rocker, sit up by herself, crawl on one knee (yes its the funniest thing to watch), crawl on her stomach, stand up with support and most recently coo at people with sounds like ooooohhhhh, nyea, avvvvaaaa, ammmeaeaeaea etc., She laughs at the silliest things like for example if we rub our noses at her tummy or under her neck, when we do peekaboo or when we throw her up in the air.
She is so impatient when I feed her ragi and wheat malt. She wants the spoon constantly in her mouth and even if I take it out for a sec to refill it, she gets frustrated and screams at the top of her lungs. Its the hardest time of the day for me, but we get through it with her crying and screaming at the top of her lungs for atleast 5 mins straight and me making up my determined mind to go on feeding her and not give up and carry her - lest she demand for milk.
Sometimes, I just start wondering.... can I do it better - do others do it better - am I a good mom ? Not sure I know the answers to any of these questions, but one thing I know for sure is that I am doing the best that I can.
Well stay tuned.... 'coz theres more to come..............
