Record of 8 Months Old: Remembering My Grandmother's Care Through Parenting

8 months old!! Finally...!!!

Komero-chan has started rolling over (^-^)

It's so cute how she plays by rolling over and over, as if she enjoys being able to move around freely

She even starts rolling around while sleeping and sometimes ends up on her stomach

Sometimes she cries because the prone position is still a bit difficult for her, so I turn her onto her back when she seems unhappy

She moves around a lot while sleeping too, and before I know it, she's moved down to the bottom of the bed!!

When did that happen...!!!! (^_^)

At this stage, air conditioning is essential when sleeping

To make sure she doesn't get cold, I put baby-sized steteco pants on her before she sleeps

She looks so cute in these steteco pants!

The waist part is like a belly warmer, and she looks just like Kato-chan, which is so adorable!!

Komero-chan has started to be able to move on her own little by little

It's truly amazing!!!

So this is how babies gradually learn to move on their own, little by little.

Komero-chan is a baby who laughs a lot, and her current laughing trend is having me write letters on her back with my finger.

She giggles.

The letters are Komero-chan's name.

When I write it on her back with my finger, she laughs out loud, perhaps because it tickles.

It's so cute and healing.

It seems there are trends in laughter too, and after a few days, she loses interest in games that used to make her laugh so much.

I feel like her memory is growing.

Maybe this is a common baby thing, but

I wonder why she likes the sound of the hair dryer and is curious about it, but is scared of the sound of the vacuum cleaner and cries?

When she hears the sound of the hair dryer, she yells "Ahhh!" as if to say, "Take me there!!"

I wonder if she's curious about it ( ´∀｀)

When I take her to where the hair dryer is, she stares intently at the noisy hair dryer with great interest.

So cute.

She is interested in so many things right now.

Making baby food is still tough, but even now at eight months, I manage to make it by hand without overdoing it, and I also give her store-bought food.

My repertoire of baby food is gradually increasing.

She loves tomatoes! She likes fruits and sweet things and eats them as if they are delicious.

There is a yogurt for babies called Baby Danone, and she likes it and eats it often.

Komero-chan is a pretty good eater, so it is fun to feed her baby food and snacks.

When I gave her a snack for the first time, she had an expression like, 'What is this!?'

At first, she would spit it out right away, but now she can skillfully pick it up with her hands, bring it to her mouth, and eat it!

So far, it seems there are no allergies.

Feeding Komero-chan baby food makes me think about many things.

Everything is a first for a baby, and the act of 'eating,' which we now take for granted, is something that must be trained little by little during infancy to get them used to it.

Thinking about that, I realized that I, too, was helped to get used to 'eating' little by little when I was a baby, which is how I became able to do it naturally.

I deeply feel that many other things I take for granted now are things I learned to do through practice when I was a baby.

A baby absolutely requires adult support and cannot do anything on their own.

They cannot even walk or move on their own yet, they cannot eat, and they cannot even fall asleep by themselves.

Watching them like that reminds me of caring for my late grandmother.

Since both of my parents worked, my grandmother looked after me from a young age.

I was a grandmother's girl!

Although I didn't live with my grandmother after I grew up, our houses were close, so I often went to visit her.

As she got older, my grandmother gradually needed care, becoming unable to walk or eat on her own.

She didn't go to a facility, and our family cared for her at home.

I would occasionally go to my grandmother's house to check on her.

One day, there was a time when I had to look after my grandmother until the evening.

My grandmother was fully conscious, but she needed care because her body had become weak.

I still remember the words she said to me at that time very well.

"[My name], thank you for tomorrow. I know you're busy, and I appreciate it. But it's hard to take care of Grandma. Are you sure you're okay with it?"

At the time, I didn't think too deeply about those words, but as time passed, I realized they were words that showed her characteristic kindness, while also conveying a sense of loneliness.

I'm sure she said that because she herself understood how difficult caregiving could be.

Caregiving is difficult and challenging.

It is difficult in many ways, not only for the caregiver but also for the person being cared for.

It was only half-day care, but I think those words also contained her fear that I might get tired of looking after her and come to dislike it, or her worry that she didn't want me to dislike her.

Caregiving and child-rearing are completely different, but I think they share some similarities in that they both involve looking after someone.

Both caregiving and child-rearing are difficult and challenging, and neither is straightforward.

Since we are born as humans, we are raised by someone, and as we age, we need someone's support again.

Humans cannot live alone.

We need someone's help, and by helping others ourselves, we are all able to live.

In this way, while raising Komero-chan, I often think of my beloved grandmother who passed away.

Since Komero-chan was born after my grandmother passed away, I wish I could have let them meet.

I'm sure she would have been delighted.

Through parenting, I am experiencing the preciousness of life firsthand.

I deeply feel that life is connected.

I'm sure this baby phase will pass in the blink of an eye.

Komero-chan is so precious that there are times I wish I could keep raising her like this forever.

She's so cute, just so very cute.

Almost 9 months old.

Parenting is tough, but every day is truly precious.

I'm looking forward to raising you through your 9th month too.

Thank you for letting me raise you.

(I am sorry for the delay in posting the 8-month record due to being so busy...!! Now they are already 10 months old this month...!!! Every day goes by in a flash!! As a side note, my sense of taste has changed a bit since giving birth, and I can no longer stand the taste of edamame and tube wasabi, which I used to be able to eat normally. I thought it would go back to normal over time, but it hasn't at all. The mysteries of the human body ( ´ ▽ ` ) Thank you for reading again this month!!!)