Growth Spurts

We’re into the 3rd week now, not exactly full moon yet, but patterns has emerged, some old wives tale has been proven to work and we’ve been lectured throughly on Facebook.

Turns out the stress from parenting isn’t so much about the baby’s expectations. There are a limited number of things that can go wrong (and a very small probability it’s something else that requires the doctor) – milk, poop, gas, cradle. Other than these 4, we haven’t seen any other need. The cry is also consistent, starting from milk which can shake the house, down to cradle, which is a tearless cry.

The same couldn’t be said of the complex world that we live in, one that would take every opportunity to tell you you’re doing it wrong, and yet request for more baby photos to be made available. We’re hesitant now – if every photo of our parenting invites a barrage of lecture from our week meaning friends, is it better to save it for ourselves and only put the standard family portraits?

Never had my study of the social media phenomenon been so amplified. We created for ourselves a world that screams Gold 90 FM: Only the good stuff. Why? Why won’t it be? Just like in my previous work life I have been warn never to write bad things about my employer on this very blog you’re reading. That’s why it’s always good news, marketing news, etc. and I kept my job.

Now all that we hope is that our extended family and close friends get to follow us as we embark on a new journey to raise children, especially since we’re geographically separated. What we didn’t expect: contradicting lectures. Half the world says sleep with aircond, half the world say cannot. Half the world say a cat will kill the baby, half the world couldn’t care less. Don’t get me started on the advise that my wife got on breastfeeding.

Some of them are sensitive enough to private message, while some bother to repeat exactly what’s said by earlier commenters. I mean, seriously, how many times must you say cannot have direct sunlight in baby’s eyes in one single picture? How stupid can the parent be? Why didn’t you tell me about the wrong way I’m eating in my earlier posts? I can get carried away pretty easily here.

So I took it in stride, while continuing to experiment. Yenn is a super demanding baby like many other babies, and comes with her own idiosyncrasies. At 3 weeks old, she’s quite a character when it comes to choosing the source of food (oh that face that says “yuck” when she got her milk slightly warmer or colder than expected), and her drama tantrum when we’re changing her diapers (omgomgomg there’s one more speck there on my butt) but dramatically return to her cuteness once the new diaper is locked in.

And the best part is her learning to cry amply so that she can be carried and cradled around. Unfortunately for her she has a very smart daddy who could start reading her by the amount of tears that comes out of her eyes: the “fake cry” that her dad is so good at doing is already identified at such a young age.

But we still pamper her like any parent would, exhausting our repertoire of nursery rhymes and random nonsense that we can ramble to keep her entertained in our arms until she willingly falls asleep. Not because anyone on Facebook cares, but we feel like it.

And if you’re going to be someone who’s going to tell us that baby who are carried too much will be very demanding in the future, we will smile and nod in agreement.

Have a nice day.

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