Milestones

Today, I ‘m a 6 month old granny.
How different I feel from those days long ago
When I was a 6 month old mummy.

Those days I was younger, much fitter and stronger
Unsure of myself and frightened of you.

Yes, your  ½ inch sized fingers in tightly closed fists , your button nose curled up
Your face red with crying, your whimpering and whining
Would fill me with dread that I was doing it wrong.

I’d worry and worry about things seemingly silly, like
Did I put soap in your eyes or did I rub you too hard?
Was the porridge too hot or the room a tad cold?
Is your dress too tight for you, did a mosquito bite you?

Today , I am a six month old granny and
Feel completely different
Much older and wiser and fitter and stronger
To deal with the questions my daughter will pose.

It seems more than six months when baby
First entered this world and made me a granny.

I had the same questions, uncertainties,
worries I had as a mummy just six months old:

When will he open his eyes?
Will they be blue, black or brown?

When will he stop startling and hold up his head?
How long will it be when he sleeps through the night?

When will he roll over or turn in his bed?
What does he think of when he sees us look down?

Does he understand sounds and what we have said?
When will he sit up?

And when will he laugh?
When will he cry tears that are genuinely wet?

He’s gone past these milestones
And sitting already
And spreading his rice feed all over his face

Yet there are milestones so many
To wait for till he becomes one
And then ten and then more!

The joys of grandmotherhood are plentifold
As much as those of motherhood
perhaps more, because as all granny’s know,
the buck doesn’t stop with us – it stops with his mummy.

So while my daughter gets stressed when baby has gas,
Or stays awake nights,
Or has started sucking his thumb,

I can keep calm and advise her that these days too shall pass
And all in good time.

Babies do things as per their schedule
Fixed in their own heads.

They come programmed and reach milestones
In their customized timetables unique to themselves.

Not one devised by pediatricians
Or child psychologists

They crawl when they want to,
Reach out and throw toys,

Get potty trained slowly
And talk when they’re ready ,

They walk when they want to and grow up in good time.
There’s no point in fretting and worrying and studying
The articles on Google on why babies cry

When babies start gurgling
When babies say “hi”

Your friends will have babies who
Crawl faster than yours
Or others whose babies
Speak three tongues at once.

And there are some whose children
Don’t sit firmly as yours or those
Whose babies still stay up at night.

Eventually these babies achieve all milestones
And grow up to be children
Delighting us all.

And then we will worry
About pre-school and nursery
And homework and bullies
And teachers and all.

As a mother of two thirty-year old daughters and a grandmother of a nineteen week old grandson, Sunita Rajwade has been there and done that. A hands on mom, she has seen two girls grow successfully through baby hood, toddler hood, adolescence and adult hood; solving their maths problems and contributing to their angst of growing up with a mom “who doesn’t understand”. But now as a grandmother, she’s being appreciated for her “wisdom” and “understanding” and would like to share my experiences of this wonderful journey from motherhood to grandmotherhood