People

Who need people

Are the luckiest people in the world

***

We went to Y and C's house for dinner last night, and encouraged FBC to "play" with Baby O on their grey chevron Parklon playmat (we have just placed an order for the alphabets one from Agape Babies. S$10 off!) by leaving them to stare goggle-eyed at one another on the said playmat until one or the other let out prolonged cries of distress in Whale (the official baby language, their Mother Tongue being Seal), or the arm swiping and/ or attempts to crawl looked like they may have resulted in an eye or two being taken out by accident. In which event whichever parent was not occupied with dinner and/ or alcohol rushed forward to admonish the culprit, and in my case, tell FBC that he should be ashamed of himself for letting a girl make him cry. 

In his defence, he cheered up after having his milk, so the tears were probably due to hunger. Or Liverpool's crushing defeat by Arsenal. 

Of course, as the night wore on and more exchanges were had in Whale and Seal and Manchester United demolished Aston Villa, FBC grew more and more excited and when we finally left Y and C's, only to have Jon miss the CTE exit which resulted in us going all the way to Changi to get back on the PIE, I figured it was going to be one of those nights we were going to Have a Hard Time putting FBC to bed. We got home at around midnight, went through the bath-bedtime routine (we still have not changed our derelict-parent ways), and an hour-long sleep battle promptly ensued.

The nth time I trudged into FBC's room and saw him sitting up again despite my having seen him close his eyes after I'd sung the choruses of some of his favourite hits (解脫, 忘记你我做不到), I heard him let out a small burp, after which he lay down and fell asleep without any further fuss. It reminded me very much of my own sleep time habits, especially when I'm sick - I have to keep sitting up to blow my nose - and when I was pregnant or had too much to eat - I have to keep sitting up to try and burp, and get comfortable before I can fall asleep.

It's nice when your baby is old enough for you to see that they're all just little people, really, with their own habits and personalities. They're people we've been given a whole lifetime to get to know, and we're people they've been given a whole lifetime to get to know. Isn't it funny to think, however, that we didn't choose them and they didn't choose us? You can ignore people in real life and mute WhatsApp group chats, but you have to try your darnedest to understand what your little person is saying in Whale. Or Seal. And respond accordingly, even if you don't know what you're saying either.