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Diary Of A New Mum -
Week 29
Non-Bouncing Baby
Now that Jessica-Ann is getting a little older, we thought
it a good idea to help her development a little by buying her one of those
bouncers that hang in the doorway. One of the ‘Other Moms’ has one for her baby
boy, and he loves it. We did our research. All babies love them, apparently. And
they are a great way to wear your baby out ready for her nap.
Once I’d had the idea, I couldn’t wait, so I went into town and bought one from
the slightly overpriced baby store in town. Of course, I could have shopped
around. I’m sure I could have got it cheaper on the Internet, or from eBay. But
I’m impatient by nature. It’s not surprising we conceived Jessica-Ann the very
first time we tried to make a baby!
I rushed home and put the bouncer together. Then I strapped Jess into it and
stood back to watch her bounce. She just hung there, rotating slightly from
right to left. Think of a parachutist caught in a tree, legs dangling uselessly,
a resigned expression on the face. That was Jessica-Ann in her bouncer. She
looked up at me as if to say: ‘And what precisely am I supposed to do now?’
I grabbed her legs and showed her how to bounce. She smiled a little, but as
soon as I stopped she just hung there again, waiting for me to do it for her. I
swung her back and forward, making it into a game. She held on to her parachute
straps for dear life and then cried. She hated the thing. Or she hated being
upright, or suspended, or something. She can’t, of course, tell me what she
thinks. I just have to guess.
The answer is staring us straight in the face, and we can’t avoid it anymore. We
have a lazy baby. Jessica-Ann is developing wonderfully in every way – except
one. She shows no desire at all to move around! While other babies (the babies
of the ‘Other Moms’), are rolling around the floor like gymnasts, Jess just sits
and stares at them. If you put her on her tummy – a pre-position for crawling –
she cries in annoyance until you righten her again. In her high-chair or
bouncing-chair she kicks her legs furiously, but put her in the bouncer to use
up all that energy and she merely floats helplessly like a butterfly.
Paul and I tell each other it’s because she is a genius. What purpose does
rolling serve, after all? Why should she play on her tummy? She can sit up
virtually unaided now, and she seems content with this. She will be late to
walk, I’m sure. She is just too lazy to see the point! And I have to confess,
writing this with my feet up on the sofa, I don’t blame her at all…
Diary of a New Mum Week 33
A Baby Cage In which I purchase a play-pen and wait to see how Jessica-Ann will react...
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