A week of firsts

Last 7 days has been a week of firsts for S. On Saturday we went for a babies party – S was the youngest at 71/2 months, then there was another baby at 9 months, then two elder babies at 14 and 18 months and the eldest at 4 years. And it was an all girls (babies) party so we started the party toasting our daughters.
The hubby was a bit apprehensive about S behaviour and on the way there was mentioning that if S starts to cry we can leave early. I was slightly more chilled out because I am ok with babies crying and making a fuss and don’t expect children to be well behaved all the time. Initially S was a bit overawed by the new place (it was at a friends place) and the no of people there and when I plonked S down next to her 9 month “friend” S started crying. I held on my lap for about 10 mins to get S acclimatized to the place and then she was ready to go. She started crawling all over the place. There was a cycle which S was very enamored with and she kept crawling towards it and trying to climb on top of it. It was pretty light so once it fell on her and then my main job was to try and dissuade her from reaching towards it. The hubby placed her on it and S enjoyed herself for about 10 mins sitting on top of it. There are some really cute pictures of her on it. Other than crawling there wasn’t much opportunity for her to do her favourite of holding onto the sofa and trying to climb up since the adults were all comfortably placed on the sofas
The interaction with other babies was really quite limited. S was more interested in the toys and the furniture. I must admit I had gone with the notion that S was going to play with the other babies so I was a bit surprised but possibly at this age babies are not that social enough to play with other. However she took well to all the peoples there and didn’t cry when they lifted her. Her interaction with the other babies was limited to patting the 9 month on the head like another of her toys and pushing the 18 month old to get to the floor gym which was highly attractive with the colourful toys and music. S also got some pushes and pats on the head but took it all pretty much in stride.
I was also surprised to see the non-fuss created by other babies to eat their solids, but S didn’t look thin by comparison and is quite advanced in terms of crawling well, climbing by holding furniture etc so my worries on her not putting on enough weight were relieved for the time being.
Around 9:30 pm S started getting restless so after her night milk I put her to sleep. I initially put her on the bed surrounded by pillows but was gripped by paranoia that she would wake up and crawl over the pillows and fall off the bed. S is quite capable of this- in the morning she jumped from her cot onto the bed – S was holding the railing of the cot and bouncing up and down on the mattress of the cot (which is quite bouncy) and then lept from the cot onto the bed which is adjoining the cot. Anyway I finally put S to sleep in the other baby’s crib. This still did not stop me from going to check on her every 15 mins since it was quite hot in that room and S is used to sleeping the lap of luxury (she needs AC to sleep comfortably at night, much to my dismay since I can’t sleep in AC without getting the sniffles)
The party was also marked by a first in behaviour which uptill S was born (or from when I was expecting) consisting of getting totally smashed and making an ass of myself. This time I was confined to the social drink and my conversation mostly consisted of asking the mom of the 9 month old (who also happens to be my junior from grad school) of what she fed her baby, how many times a day, how did she find the work from home experience, how much does her baby sleep etc etc. We also swapped bitchy comments about our baby maids and their lack of imagination in keeping the child entertained.

The other first for S was her first haircut. Her hair has become very unruly. It is extremely curly and cute but gets totally tangled and S ends up getting her fingers stuck in her hair and also feels very hot due to the tangled mess. So I was going to get my haircut so thought let me take this opportunity and get S hair more manageable. Initially debated whether I should take S to a baby specialist hairdressing salon but decided I was more comfortable going to my own hairdresser whom I have been going for the last 4-5 years. And I think the decision was right. She was extremely gentle with S and while S was quite wriggly we managed to finish her first haircut in 15 minutes. Of course would not have managed without the support of her Ajji (my mom) who was entertaining S with her favourite giraffe thus helping me to keep her head steady and not suddenly jerk ( I was quite worried about S getting cut with the scissors since I had seen a boy rushing to the paediatrician during one of my visits to the doctor).S was comfortably seated on my lap and expect for the last 2 snips was quite well behaved. The hairdresser also did a decent job and finished off the whole process quickly and didn’t chop off too much hair; just the extra hair at the back while most of cute curly hair on top was retained. I must admit S looks even cuter with the boy-cut now – the hubby insists on retaining this in future as well, while I have these visions of S with long hair nicely embellished with clips and bands.