My best friend is a 4 month old

My best friend is a 4 month old

Babies are geniuses in my eyes. They're master manipulators and never use a single word. She's never spoken a word to me, yet we talk. We communicate all day, just not the conventional way. We squeak, grunt and gurgle to each other; observing and mimicking certain sounds at certain times. Then they start to have meaning. Yes - my 4 month old has taught me a whole system of communication. Geniuses, these babies. Ever heard of the saying 'it's not what you said its how you said it'? That exactly what I spend my days doing. Amelie makes a noise and I observe the particular sound for tone, pitch and sharpness to decipher its meaning. She might only say 'gah' but believe me, there are a whole host of ways she can utter this! She's a little human, very much dependent on someone for all areas of her life- I mean she still can't even hold on to a teething ring for longer than a minute and the girl needs to soothe the horrible pain of teeth piercing her gums! For her, 'gah' is the only 'word' she can use to get her through the day. With a tired mummy it can be hard for her. So for her, sound is everything! I don't for a second wish to try and replicate her sounds (hard in writing and exceptionally boring to read) but just take our own adult language as an example. One of the sounds we use in a similar way is 'ha'. 

You can express humour:

 'that looks funny like that, ha!'

We can use it to hide embarrassment: 

'not gunna make it as I've just failed my driving test and can't drive, ha!

Can use it to be aggressive:

'I win and you lose, so HA!'

And so on..

So this is the newest discovery on my motherhood journey! I'm constantly listening, analysing coming to conclusions and devising solutions for the many things that surround Amelie! 

Her little personality shines through already - if I spend a little longer than she is happy with washing her bottles or preparing her, her FRESHLY cooked-to-baby-perfection 'meal' she outright shouts at me as if to say hurry up! 

I make fun of the repetitive nature of baby programs by exaggerating and mocking the characters' sayings, and she finds it hilarious. So, in the numbers song with Charlie and the numbers, as soon as I've uttered 'one' she is all smiles and singing shouting along all the way through to number 10 - at which stage the characters declare that it's time to 'do it all again' fml! So my little munchkin is already gah-ing and squeaking [and dribbling] whilst kicking her legs frantically ready for a repeat of the numbers song! She knows what is good in life and for us it doesn't get much better than singing the numbers 1-10! TWICE! 

My favourite part of her personality is that everything is funny. As long as I ask her, she agrees with a huge grin. Well, within reason, I mean if she's screaming in agony with a huge tooth on its way up I doubt she would respond quite so positively if at all to her stupid mum asking 'is it funny?' For the millionth time, but aside from obvious unfunny scenarios, everything is funny according to Amelie. Recently a passerby crawler kid donked her on the head with a block of wood (OK it was a wooden train) and she cried, but after 10 seconds or so of my high pitched reassurance, coupled with 'is that funny' (seriously may as well be my slogan) she confirmed that yea, it was funny - because she was grinning from ear to ear. Phew! Hopefully she grows up to be a comedian being that she seems to always see the funny side! 

Now, as with any friendship it doesn't always go smoothly for us ! Sometimes she's a pain in the backside, no - she's a serious fricking nightmare. Food, for example is a great situation. Bottles for one, I KNOW she is no longer hungry after having an entire 'big bottle' but she insists - she ditches 'gah' for this part and just screams - so I make another bloody bottle that I know will be going straight down the drain or on a good day maybe in the fridge. She takes one sip of her fresh second bottle and either chokes slightly on it because she doesn't want it, or coughs the entire mouthful of milk in my face with repeated sprays. Thanks. So these things do little less than please me and we 'fall out'. This results in me thinking 'fuck you, I knew I was right' (emphasis on THINKING I would never actually SAY that to her) and I stop sacrificing myself to her for a few moments and treat myself to a wee. Or a drink of water. Then we are friends again, so it's safe to say our disputes are short lived. These little creatures as annoying and turbulent as they can be, are the most amazing little things so they're pretty easy to forgive. 

I'm thankful for our laughs everyday and although I AM pretty relieved to put her to bed recently, mainly because of teething and me surviving on 1.5-3 hours sleep per night, most nights I genuinely think I'm gunna miss you for the next few hours, because she really does make time so special. 

For the first time in life I'm living in the now. They teach us from such a young age to live for the future - do good in school so you can get a good job, get a good job so you can buy a nice house... And the like. But for now, I'm thoroughly  enjoying the PRESENT!