I have not so far made note in my Journal of an observation I intended to document several weeks ago. Sureka’s baby boy, Jeyanth, was born 13 days before Jahan. In the past three months, the similarities in development between the two boys have been incredible. Of course all babies progress in similar ways, in terms of their physical, mental, language and social milestones, so the parallels in their development may not sound too surprising. However, the likenesses to which I refer extend beyond these rudimentary achievements.
For example, for various reasons, Sureka had to settle for bottle-feeding Jeyanth shortly after his birth despite her desire to have breastfed. And (due to the drama’s described previously in this Journal), I had to follow suit a number of weeks later. For my part, the disappointments and frustrations associated with weaning would certainly have been far less tolerable for me, had Sureka not experienced and described them to me first.
And this certainly was not the only incidence when surprising discoveries about Jahan’s behaviour were considerably mitigated by the Goringe’s experiences with Jeyanth. Two weeks ago, Jahan began demonstrating symptoms of colitis - and my terror that the condition had returned to plague him were again alleviated upon hearing that Jeyanth, too, had displayed similar symptoms in the aftermath of a tummy bug.
And as for the routine physical and social developments, Jeyanth leads and Jahan follows as if programmed like clockwork to mirror his little friend some 2-3 weeks later. It amuses me, that the Goringes are on a constant voyage of discovery as Jeyanth grows, but for Duncan and me, there is much less mystery. We simply await with bated breath for Jahan to follow suit.
Of course, so as not to negate my observation about Jahan’s Whims and Fancies… I should point out that there is always an exception. Jeyanth dropped his midnight feed weeks ago. Yet, Jahan is showing signs of persisting with his midnight feed until he’s about twenty-one and ready to move out of home. Yup, far be it for our little Enigma to allow us the comfort of finding him completely predictable.
Posted by Dayan at November 2, 2003 09:00 AM