Lately, I’ve been noticing how much you’ve changed, almost without me realizing it. Except for your first word, "Baba", which is obviously not me. But since your face looks so much like mine, I guess I shouldn’t mind not being your first word, should I? :)
You’ve been interested in it since you were four months old, but I still didn’t expect you to be this excited about your first drink and your first meal. In the days before you started solids, I often felt a little guilty eating in front of you—your eyes would light up, and you would move your mouth as if you were chewing, even though there was nothing there. You seemed so ready. So eager.
When the day finally came, you could hardly wait. You were so excited just to taste a few sips of your first water, and you even cried a little when your first meal, an egg-broccoli porridge, took too long to reach you. I also still remember how happily you accepted the frozen banana in the fruit feeder, as if it were the best thing you had ever tasted.
Of course, not everything is an instant favorite. You don’t seem to like the one with chicken liver and minced beef, but you really enjoy the meal with avocado, anchovies, salmon, and egg. Some days, feeding you is easy and feels like a smooth little ritual. On other days, it takes more patience, more creativity, and more gentle persuasion just to get you to open your mouth.
And in between all of this, you keep surprising me in the smallest ways. Sometimes you pretend to cough just to get attention. You can already lift your hand and show your palm when someone asks for a high five. When you’re overly excited, your eyes grow wide, your whole body starts moving, and your feet kick along as if they can’t contain the feeling. You often whine right before feeding, as if you simply can’t wait. You’re getting better at rolling over. You’re becoming more curious about everything.
When I nurse you now, you no longer just hold my clothes or the hands that cup your face like you used to. Instead, you grab my finger with your whole hand, play with it, and move it around as if you’re trying to understand how it works. It feels like such a small thing, but somehow it reminds me that you’re growing quietly, steadily, every single day.
Even the simplest things seem to delight you now. You love touching the wall in our bedroom because it feels cold from the air conditioner. You especially enjoy it when we lie down together and kick the wall with our feet. And sometimes, you laugh when I move my feet back and forth, as if I’m putting on a little performance just for you.
I don’t know exactly when all these changes happened. I just know that suddenly, you’re not quite the same baby you were a few weeks ago, and I keep looking forward to seeing more sides of you that haven't been shown yet.
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