There is definitely a way for Jasmin to achieve what she
wants. Even at just 4 months she has desires and she takes care to see that she
is provided accordingly.
Jasmin and teddy, sleeping
in same position...sooo cute!
It is obvious that Jasmin knows exactly which is the hand
that rocks the cradle…or the hand that feeds her. Whoever takes care of Jasmin
is rewarded with the fact that she does not take her eyes off that person and
is always curious about their whereabouts, especially if they are just leaving
the room she is in… If we spend the weekend at my parents’ house and I take a
few hours rest while my mother gives a hand with Jasmin, then even when I wake
up and return into Jasmin’s “world of people who are now present” she does not
give me (her mom!) a second glance. Savta just fed her lunch! So Savta (grandma
in Hebrew) is now the person who counts! Savta gets all the attention and
Jasmin’s look will follow her grandmother around the room, including a wailing
sound if grandma leaves Jasmin’s vicinity.
This effect was recently very strongly to be observed after
we spent time with my husband’s parents in Germany. We took a 3 week family
holiday and flew to visit my husband’s parents. As we wanted Jonathan to have a
good time on his vacation, we took him on outings (ranging from the nearest
garden to a zoo two hours drive away). Jasmin had less to enjoy on such outings
and as her grandmother was eager to spend time wither new granddaughter, we
often left Jasmin in the care of her devoted Oma (grandmother in German). The
result was that Jasmin simply did not give me the time of day! She had only
eyes for Oma in the day. At night she increased her suckling times, perhaps
looking for a way to compensate for her reduced mommy time… although Jasmin
does not breast feed anymore (I quit when I returned to work when she was 7
months old) she still wakes up 3 times in the night…ever since our holiday in
the summer, this has been the case.
Jasmin likes to be held! She always happy in someone’s arms.
As she is now spending most of her time in a day care center and sees little of
her parents during the day, the “hold me now” request has become more frequent
and more urgent. She crawls up to the person she wants to be picked up by and touches
their feet. Then she lies down on her tummy so that she can thump her foot on
the ground. This thumping clearly means “Pick me up! Hold me! Now! Please!”
Wailing and whimpering is also added as the sound effect. If Jasmin does not
reach her target (because said person is walking around the house faster than
Jasmin can crawl after them), she will follow the desired person around the
house, whimpering her protest in the process. Once reaching her goal, the
thumping ritual is repeated. Even when she wakes up at night, the foot thumping
is part of her whimpering call for a nighttime bottle. Maybe we should call her
“Thumper”, like the rabbit in the film Bambi.
