Day 16 Of Lockdown #COVID- 19

9th April 2020

Diary of a new mother 

My entire series of these 21 days will be based on my experience of being in this lockdown and staying home as a first-time mother of a 5-month-old baby, Anvay. 

Dear Diary,

Today was one of the best days for me in recent months after Anvay was born. It has nothing to do with the lockdown but it made my day. We had bought a colorful detachable and extendable styrofoam based colorful playmat for Anvay before the lockdown was announced. We thought that in case he wanted to roll-over better and would like to learn to crawl it would be better to introduce a sturdy yet soft playmat. He has been comfortable on his belly when we put him on the mat but gets uncomfortable when he tries to move. He is slowly getting into a commando crawl mode but doesn’t seem to be too happy on the mat because once he rolled-over quite quickly and his head hit the mat first. The impact was certainly not as low and soft as he would feel on the cot mattress. So, he started becoming very cautious when we put him on the mat. His pati was always there to encourage him to move forward by keeping some toys in front and also supporting his hands to move ahead. He was doing the same thing at night after his milk feed. He had not burped well so he spat out some milk. While we were about to fetch a cloth to clean it he felt some discomfort and tried to move forward in order to propel himself towards a toy. Multiple difficulties combined together made him feel irritated and desperate because of which he let out a loud cry, 

‘Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa , followed immediately by maaaaaaaaa.’ I froze when I heard it and so did my MIL, who just sat there feeling amazed. I immediately went and embraced him in my arms. Anvay had uttered his first words and that was Amma. He did not repeat it again but it was so clear and I just couldn't believe what had happened. There is no rewind-replay when it comes to such special moments. He babbles a lot these days but never did I expect him to utter his first clear words. Those words kept vibrating in my ears even as I slept. It sounded exactly like the way the girl Munni in Bajrangi Bhaijan movie utters her first words,‘ Maaaaaaaaaaaa- maaaaaaaaa, after seeing off Salman Khan, when magically her voice returns.