Quarter Of An Year Old

Baby D has turned three months old and is officially no longer a new born, although he has been behaving like a senior baby for a while now - sleeping long stretches, demanding more sophisticated entertainment than eat/sleep/poop.

His doting mommy, who feels he needs more variety by way of toys has got him this clacking fish rattle. The rationale was that since he has started his grabbing attempts he needs to have something around that he'd realistically be able to grab. Besides, he's bound to start teething in a month or two or three and then this would serve well as a teether. Baby D is reserving judgement on his new possession at the moment, but it's my belief he'll take to it once he's shown the full potential of his new toy.

In these three short months, Baby D has come a long way. His head doesn't wobble so much anymore and he's able to hold it quite high when there's something that catches his eye. He coos and babbles and his smile is as social as it gets. He looks like he might start rolling any time now, given that he's trying his best to lift himself up from the waist and change the way he is positioned. His kick is a powerful thing and leads me to believe that he might take to football (what a pity, cricket is so much more interesting. But you got to let kids do what they will do.)

He's something of an enigma still - squirming and crying when letting out "exhaust fumes". Yet when it comes to spitting up, he serenely lets the milk drip out of his mouth even as people all around him are frantically running around for burp cloth and wipes and poor babying him.

Baby D's parents have come a long way too, in they way they define a good time. Today, he was dropped of at his nani - nana's place for the better part of they day. Along went Mr. Spots, the new clacking fish and Mr Lion Rattlesworth (previously called Mr Lion Rattle on this blog). There was a moment, when saying bye, when Baby D grabbed momma's nose and mouth and smiled sweetly, obviously unaware that "Big Visit" meant visit without mommy. I was choked and Daddy D amused, but we got back home (3 kms away) and then there was this delicious sense of irresponsibility. We slept and watched the match and ate plenty of ice cream. We watched four brand new episodes of "Big Bang Theory" without interruptions from Baby D to explain to him something or the other. He doesn't really get it yet.

When we went to pick him up at around 9 in the p.m., Baby D was a litany of complaints though nani assured us he had been playing merrily up to that point. He was quite squirmy in the car continuing to chide us all the way home - what did we think we were playing at, where did we disappear to, who was supposed to sing him Rain drops on roses and so on.

Properly penitent, we made him a nice warm snack, rocked him too and fro, walked him around. After one last recital of Do Re Mi for the day, he has finally relented, bestowed a good night smile on Mommy and Daddy D and decided to call it a night.