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By Marsha Maung
It is important for mothers,
especially those who are working out of home during
the daytime, to have special moments with baby. For
the sake of having extra income or maintaining a
career or to fulfill personal satisfaction, we have
to committ ourselves to employment, either
self-employment or employment by another company.
There should be a routine whereby
baby can fully depend on you for. You do it
consistently every single day with him and only you
do it. The right to that specific routine is
guarded, as with mine. It can be anything from
feeding before sleep to rocking him, playing
peeakaboo after dinner, or brushing his teeth with
him before resigning to bed.
I have very special moments with
my little tot which I guard fiercely. If I miss it
one day, I'll feel uneasy. As much as it is routine
for him, it is routine for me too.
Bathing
Every single day, I take my baby's bath with him. I
come home from work, take my dinner while my maid
feed my son. As we're both having dinner at the same
time, we can finish together. So, when we finish our
dinner, I'll whisk him upstairs for his fun bath
time. I allow him to splash water around, on me,
throw his rubber duckie at me and simply have a
splashing good time.
This is a special moment for me
and him because we are taking a bath together. I am
not taking his bath for him but WITH him. Noone else
does it, unless forced to. But this right, I guard
with all my might.
It's not that I won't allow anyone
else to take their clothes off infront of my son and
bath with him. But once a day, I will shower with
him to establish closeness simply because I lose out
when I am at work. That personal moment will help
strenghten the bond between us.
Story book time
This is also another exercise I do most with him.
Once everything is done, I will pull up a chair next
to his crib, sit him down next to Barney in his crib
and open up some books for him to leaf through.
We'll talk and have fun reading. When I am reading a
story for him, while he goes through the books of
interest to him, sometimes he makes a grab for the
book in my hand. Then he finds that my books are
boring cause they contain only words.
I know he enjoys the moments
although it's not as fun as trudging around naked in
the bathroom with a toilet cleaner in hand. We'll
share a tickle or two between stories, exchange
loving kisses, hug once in a while, point at
pictures in the book and basically goofing in bed.
Sometimes, he feels a little more
clingy and wants to be near me, so, in such
instance, I will remove him from the crib and place
him in my bed and on my lap. We'll go through the
routine like before. Only we kiss easier this way.
The bond
I know that those exercises helped me and my son to
continue being close together although I sadly have
to leave him in the mornings. We share this special
feeling for each other that no word can explain
clearly enough.
I will do anything to make sure I
keep that silent promise to be there for the moment
we share together.
About the Author: Marsha Maung is
in her late twenties and is one part of a parenting
website,
Darlings in Diapers. She has one 18-month-old
son, Joshua and is carrying her second child due out
in this world by April 2002. She resides in Petaling
Jaya, Malaysia with her husband and family |