the thing with over enthusiastic grandparents

Once the grandparents heard Jarrett's starting on solid, they couldn't wait to start giving him treats. Last Sun, we all went out for dinner to celebrate my niece 15th birthday. Boy was it a stressful night for Wx. We ended the meal with a really cute watermelon cake (tasted and looked like one). Now, before the cake, the grandparents had been cooing over the baby and kept saying Jarrett's a big boy now, and should be given bits of food to try. Hello!!! Little Jarrett is only 5.5 months old! To which, my Mum very proudly insisted I was fed with porridge at 3mths! Horrors!!! No wonder I grew up a fat kid! My stomach probably never had enough time to mature before it was stuffed with food and it was all left in there to rot! And when I asked her when I should introduce meat, she said "Don't know. When you wanted to eat, I just fed you" Argh...and was told I went on to rice when I was 9mths old. Let's just say I am glad I am the one in charge of Jarrett's diet now. Oh ya..my dad also very proudly claimed he introduced me to my 1st sip of beer when i was in my toddlerage, which probably explained why I love my drinks..but strangly not beer and probably why I didn't end up in Harvard cos I lost some major IQ points there.

Ok, side track too much, back to the cake. So the birthday song was sang (3x) and the cake was distributed. This was when the stress started. My dad started saying Jarrett should be given a taste of it since the little fellow had been "licking" his lips the whole night and sticking out his tongue whenever he saw the adults eating. I, of course said no. My sister kept quiet but kept giving me the look. I'm guessing it was the "oh o...." look. Then my mum chipped in and said a little wouldn't harm and it would be fun for the baby to try. I again said no and explained very patiently that Jarrett's not ready for butter, cream, sugar and food colouring! He had only started on rice cereal and pumpkin thus far. My dad picked up his fork and dug out a small piece of cake and proceeded to shove it into Jarrett's face! Ok, it was war time! I yelled no, covered Jarrett's mouth and shot my dad murderous looks. Poor Wx was just caught in the middle, cause Jarrett was seated on his lap while me and my dad went on a tug of war. Lucky for him, Jarrett was due for a feed, so we packed up and left before the others did.

I'm not surprise if I'm named the "VERY DIFFICULT MUM" now. Yes, I'm fussy but I'm not sorry about it. I'm just being the mother hen, taking care of my little one. I'm also not saying my mum did a lousy job taking care of me, cos she certainly brought me up well. It's just that time has changed, and with it brought new knowledge and methods of parenting. With my family history of allergies, I have to be more diligent than the other mummies. So folks, sorry if I had offended you, I'm sure I loved your porridge when I was 3months old and I now know why I can hold my drinks so well!