P28: Butler Butler Burning Bright

My baby boy is now 13 weeks i.e. 3 months and a week old. Since I was meeting him after a long month, I noticed a few changes about him.

He has developed stronger muscles to hoist himself up when rested on his tummy. He looks all happy as he shows off his new strength to me, looking like a pocket body-builder. Do remember though, that the child will tire out easily.

His neck has become stronger, as a result of which, he is a lot more comfortable turning his head from side to side.

He also has become, what I call, a Human Hammer Head. He uses his head to butt around when he is held. The last I saw anything like that were the shy giraffes at Nairobi as they jostled for food at the feeding ‘machan’. It is funny when he does that but, however it is a test of reflexes.

I do have a nagging fear that he likes watching TV, especially the soppy soaps that gets aired in afternoons. I am not sure who to blame for that! 😉

Here are a few other observations I made:

The mother’s role has increased manifold – the child understands that food, comfort, succour and sleep all come from the same source. My wife jokes that she is more of a commodity than mother to the child!

What this development basically means that the father is reduced to being a butler. But being a useful butler is a great help. So pay your respects to Nestor and do what is the calling of the hour. The butler needs to be handy with the following:

• Nappy
• Feeding bottle
• Top up feed (helpful for growth spurts)
• Bib to wipe that drool after a feed.
• And anything else that the wife might need (from a hair clip to handing her mobile to her)

It is easy to be logged out as a father here, but I make sure I make myself useful by calming the child, or lulling him to sleep. This gives my wife the necessary down time that she needs. Imagine being at the beck and call of a wriggling three-month old, at all times! Feeding him; getting him to sleep – now multiply that into 24 hours. So that is pretty much what my wife is doing.

Statutory warning: you might find more of a mother and less of a wife. Please do not panic. That is the sign of an involved mother. I try to spend as much time as I can with her. When my cub sleeps, we talk to each other, thereby utilising some time that we get to ourselves. Those are moments when we go back to being friends and husband-wife!

The other thing to do is to introduce the child into your lifestyle. In other words, a quick trip to your favourite diner or breakfast with family is a good idea. We have been careful not to expose the child to areas with a lot of noise – and so his shopping mall debut is still pending.

And his trip to Carrefour is not going to happen soon!

Cheerio!