A Very Contrary Baby

It was Baby D's ninth month birthday and Mommy D had some plans to commemorate the occasion.
Despite the fact that Baby D has been showing scant interest in new toys of late, Mommy D thought to go ahead and get him this clockwork alligator anyway. "Snappy" features two birdies on his back, which when you press, gets Snappy to work his jaws furiously and roll away. It's supposed to be fun for crawling babies to chase after. Snappy's tail can be twisted, so it goes click click. His is a friendly face and colourful wheels. What's not to like!

Mommy D and Daddy D had a much involved discussion the previous night, over a name for Snappy. They had perhaps not put so much thought into Baby D's name! Mommy D thought it might be a good idea to just hide Snappy in Baby D's toy box for him to find, so he didn't feel pressured into playing with him.

Sure enough, Baby D spotted Snappy right away. But having examined him a bit, and banging the floor with him, he simply threw him away. No amount of showing him Snappy's capabilities would  get him interested. He really couldn't be bothered to chase after Snappy rolling away. In fact, when Mommy D "accidentally" left Snappy lying around, Baby D unconcernedly stepped over him in his quest for slippers, shoes and the like.

The other excitement of the day was introducing fish to Baby D. Mommy D had thought of a recipe, that she felt sure would please. Fish and potato were boiled together with a clove of garlic to give a hint of flavour. The whole was then mashed together with a teeny pinch of salt and formed into a ball. Mommy D then fried the fish cutlets in ghee. It was at this crucial last stage that things went awry and the whole tasted more ghee than fish.

Baby D's response was frank and instantaneous. He took a bite, pulled a face and threw up the whole on Mommy D. Oh well. She had that coming. The same evening,  Baby D determinedly devoured the grown up fish cutlets - nicely spiced and salted. He also got his way over the omelette, growling at Mommy and Daddy D until we were forced to relinquish at least a quarter of their portion each. This is when he's not officially started eggs.

Mommy D  is worried on the shape of things to come, even as the entire household patters around in bare feet, (the slippers are all hidden away lest Baby D should take a fancy to eat them) and each household article that is lost is looked out for with repetitions of "where is pen", "where is cup" and so forth after the manner of Baby D's peekaboo game.