March 2'nd 2011

Dearest Rihana,


You’ve changed over-night.

Last night, I finally noticed you were no longer an infant.

You choose play-time over cuddling with me. You get restless when I keep hugging you. You don’t cry anymore when your diaper has been long on and is making you uncomfortable. Even nappy-change time is loss of precious play-time for you and you’d rather deal with a heavy diaper than lie still for a minute and have me apply your diaper cream and change you.

You no longer allow cute little pony-tails or any kind of hair-accessory (not that you were ever a fan of those), choosing instead to play around with hair flopping all over your place. There is no place for my dressing-you-up OCD’s anymore.

When you were much smaller, you had a single-minded purpose, to feed and to stay constantly at my chest. Today, that is your option only when you are sleepy and have no energy or patience for anything else. You have an independent personality now, feisty, competitive and utterly charming. Your smile increases in its million-dollar value everyday and when people compliment me on your smile, I know they genuinely mean it, not the run-of-the-mill ‘Your baby is sooo cute’ compliment.

You’ve changed over-night.

Last night, you spent more than thirty minutes playing alone in your crib while you were alone in the room with me. You have learnt to operate your Precious Planet Motion Soother by yourself now and as the gentle music played, I remembered hoping that same music would soothe you to sleep when you were a little ball of infant in your crib.

What did I know then Rihana? I thought Motion Soothers actually worked and you would sleep like the Fisher-Price baby on its cover? And, how about that mobile trick you tried to pull yesterday? Sitting down and lunging upward hoping to entrap Pooh and his friends? As wonderful a time I had watching you try to achieve something you had your heart set on, I could not watch you try unsuccessfully for too long, and I chose to make life easier for you by pulling down the mobile and handing you Pooh and his friends. You were not impressed with my effort to help. You tossed the hanging figurines aside, you had more fun jumping and lunging toward it than actually holding it in your hand.

Even the simple act of watching you play with a mobile had an important life lesson for me. My heart swells with pride as I watch you try hard to achieve something, I would do anything to make life easier for you but promise to sit back and let you decide what brings you happiness, the chase or the trophy….

For you are and always will remain, in my everyday chases, my trophy.

Love,

Sunanda ( Your lazy-writer-mom)