my daughter turns eight months today. she’s so close to her first year birthday that slowly i’m preparing myself that she’s not going to be a “baby” anymore. she grows so fast. it’s cliche, but once you go through it, it’s like this ambivalent happy sad moment to see her grow.
she’s really starting to learn that she doesn’t have the allowance to do everything she wants to do, play with everything that interests her. she’s starting to pick up on the word ‘no’ because she realizes my stern expression and becomes fixated with my reply to some of her behavior. i have to remind myself not to overuse it, overlook it, and overdo it; i also have to follow it with a hug, because she knows i don’t hate her. unjustly paraphrasing c.s. lewis, you just have to know when it’s ok to play the black and white keys on the piano.
these days, she is creeping…getting to standing position independently and travelling with a support. she does crawl everywhere now which forced my brother to buy a swing gate for us because he was very worried about her ‘zealousness’ to ‘explore.’ [thanks to`].
she also has some funny tricks to make us laugh, expressions that are done on command. i’ll post a video once i can transfer it to google. she’s adorably colorful…her personality already shows and i think there’s a tinge of crazy in there…not crazy straightjacket, but crazy ha-ha. her favorite new choice of sound to make is ‘Ba’, which is fitting because after a while, she ends up saying A-Ba-Ba, her last name! so on some crazy nights, perze and i end up hearing the family name over and over and over again. This is funny because she also knows how to say Em-Ma. So every once- just once in a blue moon, she CAN say Em-Ma A-Ba-Ba…which is like winning the lottery (without paying taxes).
as far as her food palate, she’s eating fruits now, something she use to have an aversion to because of its strong taste. She eats both Gerber and real fruit. Plus she can eat cherios (Apple Cinnamon preferably). And when naughty, eats french fries and chicken nuggets (baby portions considered of course!). And of course, rice- kasi pinay!
how is it like being a mom?
the question is funny because the majority of those who read my blog have known me for many a great season(s) of my life, some even from frumpy childhood, and some from exciting college years when they’ve seen me in my busyness and personal life…what is one thing about motherhood that i can testify? included in the myriad of things, it’s more in the knowing and now acting on the knowing that life is not about me. College was about me, education was about me, being found and courted was about me, being loved by someone was about me, finding a place to live was about me…but motherhood is about her.
thank you Jesus for her 8th month.
