Perception

At the end, we didn't have another birthday party. He was going to have only one first birthday and I decided to make the most of it. Since I couldn't change the situation, I changed my perception. I decided to be more positive and celebratory and happy. And we were. He was tired, sick but happy.

His grandparents (and tati) came to celebrate this special day with him all the way from France and Turkey. We cooked, we ate, we had champagne, and a nice cake...he ate with us, then slept then came back and played with everyone. It was a nice day at the end. 

He grows up really fast. First of all, now that he has 4 teeth (he has very spaced upper middle teeth, too much breastfeeding?) , he decided to finally put things in his mouth. Like a good Belgian, he started with french fries and could not get enough. Now he very proudly eats bread every morning by himself :)

He is very communicative and started saying a couple of words now, ga-du (armenian word for cat when he sees a cat, bird, dog, well basically all animals), de-de (grandpa). Very impressively but not surprisingly he announces his poop (ca-ca). So then I have to take him to the bathroom and put him in front of a mirror so that he sees himself poop. Now when we are at home, it's OK and I'm happy to do it. But when we are outside as you can imagine it is challenging to find a mirror and hold him up.

Since he heard my parents call my name, he decided to call me with my name. Now when I leave him by himself he calls Da-Da..or De-Da, and sometimes Ne-Da. Great!

We are unsure how much English he understands but the other day Claude told me in English "I'm gonna go" and he started waving bye-bye. But most probably it was just a coincidence, maybe he associates that time of the day with his dad leaving, don't know.

He is a joker. He pretends to throw up and laughs hysterically at my reaction.

I kind of find a babysitter for him. She is going to start mid-May once a week. We will try for a month and see how it'll go. Then I think as of September, we will quit the daycare (we need to give 3-month notice).

I can't believe how big he is getting. He really looks like a little boy. But in my head, he is still my bébé.

1st Birthday

Baby's first birthday was today.

I was so excited...

He had fever and has been coughing for some time. We went to see our doctor today and , yes, it's yet another ear infection and the beginning of a bronchitis.

My poor baby spent his birthday in antibiotics and a 39 degree fever. We're starting the kiné tomorrow.

I am mad at the world for taking away our first birthday.

But on a positive note: despite everything he was still smiley, very tired and in pain but smiley... :)


How I love him!
Happy Birthday my love!

First play date!

Berry's upcoming first birthday is causing some emotional turmoil in this mama. Websites advising to keep your baby's first birthday low-key (!) and inviting 20 people maximum (!!) made me feel terrible about a. my social life (cause I don't know that many people in Brussels) and b. my berry's social life (poor bébé who was deprived from the play date world because of his lazy mama)

So I joined a group of English speaking mothers who meet twice a week with babies ranging from 3 months to 15 months. Since there were no hosts this week,  I said I would go for it. Apparently, at every meeting there are about 8 different mothers. I had only 2 since it is holidays here..and let me tell you 2 was enough!!!

This is the room after people left. The picture does not look that bad but it was bad!

When our guests came, berry was cranky, he refused to take a nap, complained without a stop, spilled his food all over the floor and himself, he finally broke the CD player...and nothing I did worked...

I wanted to be that mother who can quietly have a tea with her friends while her baby plays by himself on the floor content and happy. But I became this mother who is frantic and has to interrupt all conversation that starts because her baby is needy and always wants to be the focus of attention. How did this happen? When did this happen? What did I do wrong?