By Geetanjali Sharma
As I walk into a phase of preparing baby meals and tasting them, I find a hint of my mom in my ways – quick, kind and always thoughtful – not that I am trying to make us look special but only appreciating the effort that goes into feeding your baby the firsts.
A family that eats together, sticks together. And now that our little charmer has a seat at the table, his energy refreshes our minds and makes our hearts breathe blissfully. It is natural and healthy to want your baby to be fed with all that is right for them. For me, preparing interesting purées and discovering new combinations every day is like finding a puzzle piece to my little one’s taste chart. It is interestingly tough yet satisfying.
As days pass, tastes form and recipes evolve. While he engages with his surroundings sitting on his tall chair, his expressions say a lot about his meals. From warm stews to cold messes, smiles and frowns to uninterested gazes, his days have begun to gain some routine and mine have lost the ability to have one.
That’s the way the life of a mother is but in our case it’s true for both of us. We watch each other lost in our own thoughts of ‘What’s next?’ We communicate, often with blank expressions, and still manage to get a hint of ‘what is next.’
Parents don’t just grow closer while raising children, they also learn way more about their partner than they did before. And that is what I want to share this week.
Mothers are often given the badge of honour for being the ‘present’ parent but, in our case, it goes both ways. His ways are different, but they work. His attitude is optimistic while mine gets a little shaken. His voice is soothing which calms us both down. His eyes say a lot when my mind goes off to sleep.
It is charming to see him in all the different avatars. It’s fun to see him turn into a kid while I feed the little one. And it’s romantic to find him smiling after a long day of being an equal parent in this phase of growing together.
Together, this season, we intend to walk through the dense deodars of Landour and grab a hot second of savouring coffee at the Landour Bakehouse before the stroller begins to roll and nap time rushes to make way for more baby feeding time.
(Geetanjali Sharma is an author and communications specialist. She holds a post-graduate degree in international communication from Macquarie University, Australia.)
