Diary of an Eight Month Old

Haven’t you wondered for how long I’ve been six months old? I have been so busy telling you about my life and travels that I forgot to update you about my age. This weekend, I turned 8 months old (I feel so grown up!!!).

By the way, you know, I have never needed to keep track of my age. It is my Mum who reminds me every week. Here’s the irony. She’s too busy with me to keep track either. She gets a mail from Baby Center each week saying, “Hey, your baby is now 7 months and 3 weeks old!” Excited, she settles down on her favourite couch with her phone and reads through all that I’m supposed to be doing in that week. Like, hey, why not just look at me and see what I’m doing that week? Phones and internet, I tell you, they’ve just spoilt my parents’ generation.

For every little thing she wants to know about me, my Mum asks Google. If you look through her search history, you’ll see queries like, “Why is my baby’s poo green?”, “Is it ok to give my baby unpeeled apples?”, “My baby touches his ears too often!” and “My baby fell sick, please reassure me that I’m not a bad mother.” I hope Google tells her, “Hey, take a break. Go give your baby a hug and a smile and both of you will be just fine.”

Anyway, back to the topic of me having grown up into a full-blown eight-month old! So what’s new in these two months, apart from all that I’ve already told you?

1. Introduction to the Swimming Pool

Papa has wanted to take me to a swimming pool ever since I was 30-seconds old. My Mum has protested against it from before I was born (yes, I used to overhear their arguments from within). What’s ironical? It’s actually my Mum who loves swimming, while my Dad would rather do complicated calisthenics in the name of exercise.

They found a compromise. Papa dips just my feet and my Mum doesn’t know about it. Here’s what happens. When I wake up at the crack of dawn every other morning and my Mum pleads for another hour of sleep, Papa takes me on the pretext of a walk in our neighbourhood complex and heads straight for the pool. It’s quite fun, actually! Going splash, splash, splash at 5 am in the morning!

2. Getting Skilled with my Hands

Life began with toys being dangled in my face and me barely being able to squint at them. Do you know that I couldn’t even differentiate colours well in my initial weeks? And here I am, eight month old, and so skilled with my hands that I don’t just throw toys around for my parents to fetch, but also juggle Cerelac tins with the ease of an experienced clown.

3. Interested in Girls

As you may have noticed in my last post about Spanish, Mauritian and Indian chicks in my neighbourhood, I am no longer immune to the charms of cute girls. On the pretext of offering my toys for play, I managed to get Ishi, my next-door neighbour, to visit me the other day. Never mind that she’s three months older than me, she had me dancing with joy!

There’s a lot more that’s new and exciting in my life. Not all of it comes out today.

Allow me to divulge my secrets bit by bit. Stay tuned!