I was 40 when I found out I was pregnant, and had him in the 8th month of my pregnancy. I had eclampsia and had been hospitalized earlier in the pregnancy with what they felt were kidney stones, although nothing ever passed.
He was barely 6 lbs and 18” long. We came home on a Sunday afternoon and were back at the hospital Monday morning. He had a severely low bilirubin and was hospitalized to get it back up to normal. We spent a week in the NICU.
He was the easiest baby, very quiet for the most part, always observing, watching, and looking at you. And I know all babies do that, but he didn’t look around with wonder or amazement, he was serious, like he’d been here before. Sometimes when he was a baby he’d look at me, and it actually would scare me a little, because it felt like he was more aware than a baby.
Aside from some afternoon colic situations, he was the easiest baby and a joy to be with. Well for me anyway. On one occasion when he was 5 months old, I tried to go to a hockey game in the afternoon, as a friend had tickets to sit in the player’s box. My child screamed from the minute I left until 5 hours later when I walked through the door. I chalked it up to he didn’t know the neighbor and missed me.
While he was a baby I noticed things immediately, at 4 months old this child would watch “Finding Nemo” over and over and over, and did so up until about 3 years old. It was one of the only things that made him truly happy. I used to prop him up in his car seat in front of the TV. I would watch him and try to figure out what he was seeing. At first I really believed it was the vibrant colors in the movie, but then I noticed he was reacting appropriately to the movie! He would smile or get a horrified look at all the correct places. Naturally my mother thought he was a genius, but honestly I found it odd for a 4 month old.
He thrived on routine, and don’t all the baby books say you need a routine? But he would not tolerate deviation from the routine. My mother would sneak in my room in the morning between 4:30 am and 5:00 am and take him into her bed with her. We’d then get up around 8:00 am and watch Teletubbies and then Dragon Tales, if we had a Dr’s appointment or something else to do for that day, you could be assured that a fit was coming, because the routine was broken. The car did not soothe him, in fact, it aggravated him, he didn’t like going in the car and it’s only been the last 3 years that going in the car is a pleasure. When he was around 4 or 5 months old, I thought it would be fun one night to surprise my mother at her show. We got in the car to go at about 6 pm, and not only did a fit ensue, he worked himself up so badly he threw up everywhere.
He liked the same music to be played softly, the same books to be read quietly, and the same daily routine repeatedly. When in doubt, I put the Nemo movie on. I really loved mornings with him, as he didn’t seem to pop awake, he didn’t wake up crying, sometimes I think he’d been awake a long time and would just listen to me for awhile, he’d open one eye up and then the other and look up at me with big brown eyes and smile. He smiled a lot…..
Even as a baby he was extremely picky about whom he’d allow to pick him up, and who he’d make eye contact with. He seemed to gravitate toward the quiet, direct people. He didn’t not seem to place much value in the people who cooed all over him or were loud and trying to be funny toward him. He seemed to enjoy being talked to as a person versus the baby talk that we all like to talk to babies with.
I chalked all his little quirks up to; he was the male heir to a single mom who was currently living with her older sister and elderly mother. This boy walked on water and had one of us, the three women, constantly doting on him.
I believe in my heart we had just spoiled him, rotten.
As he became a toddler – I started realizing something was askew……
0 comments:
Post a Comment