No, I am not talking about the 7 year old; I am talking about the 9 month old.
The story goes like this :
Buoyed by the exhilaration I felt and the little positive responses I received from the blogs I wrote so far, I had ,suddenly, a lot of topics to stamp my authoritative knowledge on. And one of them was parenting. The premise was that, I absolutely, thoroughly , enjoy being a Father. And the smaller the offspring , the more enjoyable it is.
So it goes that, I was superbly confident of my capabilities of understanding and responding to the multitude of sign and sound language which my 9 month old son resorts to. I was confident that I could take care of his requirements anytime, understand his needs and put him to sleep decently. That is.. until yesterday.
I put him to sleep at about 11 PM after playing with him and am working on the laptop lying in the bed, when he wakes up,with a smile. And it is just 12:15 AM !!Though I am a lil surprised at the short sleep he had , I am supremely confident of putting him back to sleep with all the god gifted special parenting skills I possess. How wrong I could be !!
He happily crawls over to me and lie face down on my torso with his head nestling on my chest- his favourite position. I try to work on the laptop as I hum a lullaby and pat his back rhythmically. The glow from the lap top screen keep distracting him till it reaches a point when I have to shut the system and shove it under the cot and earnestly devote time to the business of putting him to sleep.
I try putting him though all his normal sleeping positions, then get up and walk around the house rocking him, put him a cradle ... all to no avail. And then he starts crying!!! and that becomes a marathon performance I have never experienced hitherto. After about 1.5 hours, Saila ( for those who are uninitiated / late comers, she is my better half - (but I being a Male Chauvinist Pig contest the "better half" stuff vehemently)) woke up and joined the party. We do all the routines- breast feeding, bottle feeding, water feeding, cajoling, rocking- with no impact
I am fast tiring . My eyes are burning and my patience ( of which I am proud of -to some extent) is wearing faster. I am getting pushed to the brink but there are no signs of my dear son intending to stop his wailing. He would drop off to a troubled sleep for about 5 minutes giving us the hope and vision of a good sleep only to see him twitch around and commence wailing.
All my ego is down the drain. I have never been so helpless. i cant communicate , i cant understand what is going on, i dont know if he is in some pain. I am just plain helpless.
My son was having a tough time through the week on account of an irritating and persistant cold, running / blocked nose, and slight fever ; but was on a fast recovery track. In fact just before he slept at 11 PM ; he was in his usual element.
I have no idea what time he slept- time had no meaning by then. I woke up to his wailing again...
Took him to a doc who said it could be a case of blocked Eustechian Canal and is not a cause to worry.Currently he is at home sleeping....
Lesson I learnt? Thats quite apparent, isnt it?
Obviously there are a lot of things that I have no control about.
Even a nine month old toddler can kick your butt and you cant do a damn about it.
There are a lot of things , I know nothing about.
Dont put one's foot in one's mouth or Head.
3 comments:
Hi Jay,
Do you know the difference between school and life? - In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.
Kannan is yet to teach you a lot of lessons. Be prepared.
Cheers,
Salil
That was educative :-)
Well written! Laughed a lot (hope that doesnt sound too rude!)
@ salil : ye I agree. He is certainly on to teach me quite a few lessons, that I am unlikely to forget for a long time :)
@ Cris : Making a person laugh is the biggest compliment one cud get. Thank you for your kind words.
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