Feed your children. . .
I always felt that I had no training for parenthood and that my efforts were very much trial and error. On day three of Elly’s little life I was politely asked to please stop talking to her by another mother. This lady was in a bed diagonally across from me in a four bedded unit of the maternity ward, she was breastfeeding on demand. Her problem was that her son stopped feeding every time he heard my voice. Such a pity his mum didn’t try talking to him as she fed him. I talked non stop to Elly from the day she was born, always calmly and quietly - even when she was asleep!
Day four brought another problem, passing the nursery (where all the babies slept) on my way to the bathroom first thing in the morning, I paused to gaze at my little bundle… but my precious treasure was not there! Suddenly panic-stricken, I am sure the colour drained from my face. Clinging to the window ledge I scanned all the baby cots to make sure I was not mistaken.
Elly was not there!
The Nursing Sister appeared from the nursing station and I turned to her with dread. “We had to move Elly in with the incubators last night” she said.
My heart sank. “What happened? Why didn’t you call me”?
“There was nothing wrong” she said. “You know we have two nurses in the nursery all night with the babies; well every time they spoke to each other Elly lifted her head. We moved her so that she would sleep.” Sister went on to say “When you get home I suggest you put Elly into her own room straight away or otherwise you will never get a night’s sleep.”
We did!
At nine months independent Elly showed her colours! She was in her high chair which was drawn close to the dinner table. I had her dish of food on her tray. Jack and I were eating dinner. I filled her spoon with food and tried to feed her. Stubborn Annie Elly refused my offering and closed her mouth tighter than a vice. I set the spoon down and continued with my own dinner.
Through the corner of my eye I saw a tiny hand lift the spoon and put it in her mouth. The empty spoon was returned to the plate. Waiting until the food was swallowed I tried once more to feed her. Again my effort was refused. Setting the spoon down on the dish I returned to my dinner. I watched as a little hand lifted the spoon and emptied the contents into her mouth. This pattern continued for the remainder of the meal and indeed for all meals until Elly was able to fill the spoon herself.
Elly loved stories and very quickly learned to read. The first proper book that she read was Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne and that was before she started primary school. Elly became an avid reader, as hungry for words as she was for food! At five she could read faster than I do even now! I did my best to feed her hunger with food for the mind as well as food for the body.
I hope I did a good job.
Nick said,
November 22, 2008 at 8:24 am
Some lovely anecdotes. It makes me wonder whether learning to be talkative and sociable comes from parents who always talked to you a lot from day one, whereas the shy children are the ones who weren’t talked to very much.
Lette said,
November 22, 2008 at 9:16 am
awwwwwwwww
it was the same with my little sis, she was able to read before school and mum, dad and my brother and I always read to her untill she could read herself 
life is awsome 
Now we have a 4 legged baby in our new house and keith and I are wrapped up in her a little pup called Boo, i cant wait till she learns to read! :p
Rowan-the-plaything Manahan said,
November 22, 2008 at 9:41 am
So evocative GrannyM, you’ve transported me back to Holles St and all the marvellous (if slightly one-sided) chats I had with my wide-eyed girls as we strolled the corridors when they’d overheat from all the visitors in the room.
I just know you’ll enjoy this post from Cultural Offering - http://culturaloffering.com/2008/11/20/teach-your-children–.aspx - it sounds like you ticked all these boxes, and more, with Elly
Grannymar said,
November 22, 2008 at 11:56 am
@Nick - I remember seeing a programme on TV many years ago where an eminent Paediatrician was talking about this very subject. He demonstrated how the child became quiet and almost still when left for some time without verbal stimulation. Once he began speaking the tiny baby responded, by opening his eyes and moving his arms and legs. Now my Elly is always on the move!
@Lette - Enjoy little Boo!
@Plaything
- I have a confession…. At 11pm last night I had no post for today. I poured a G&T and sat to check my RSS for inspiration. My oasis was fortified and I almost stole your post! As I prepared a link to go with it I went off on a tangent. That tangent is what you read today. Thanks for the guidence. 
steph said,
November 22, 2008 at 12:17 pm
That was a joy to read, Grannymar
I have this lovely image of a tiny but very determined Elly sitting in her high chair with arms folded and muttering under her breath…
“I’ll show her I can do it myself”
When I had my first baby, the nurses pleaded with me to keep him beside me at night as they couldn’t get him to sleep!
Nothing’s changed
Grannymar said,
November 22, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Steph
There was one place… just one where the ‘myself’ didn’t work, you guessed it — her bedroom!
Darlene said,
November 22, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I am sure you did an excellent job, Marie, because babies start learning from day one. A year ago I had a cochlear implant and had to train my brain to, once more, recognize sounds and I did that by listening.
I’ll bet Elly is a competent at whatever she tries and is independent to this day.
TheChrisD said,
November 22, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Are you sure she wasn’t doing it out of spite?
Grannymar said,
November 22, 2008 at 1:19 pm
@Darlene - Elly is a very confident, capable and talented young lady and I am very proud of her. Mind you nowadays I am the one to say ‘myself’ and will continue to do so for many a long year yet!
@ChrisD - Spite! Whats that?
kenju said,
November 22, 2008 at 1:57 pm
You could not possibly have failed with the attention to detail you gave!
cathy said,
November 22, 2008 at 3:21 pm
What a lovely, warm post on such a cold and dreary day. Brought back a lot of memories
Baino said,
November 22, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Babies brains develop faster than at any time in our lives between the ages of birth and 3 so it’s very important to teach them all you can in that time. I think Elly turned out just fine! I often tell mine I’m still on a learning curve . . hey, I’ve never had a 22 and 24 year old before so it’s all new to me!
Grannymar said,
November 22, 2008 at 9:42 pm
@Judy - I tried and am pleased to have done so!
@Cathy - I love to jog memories for people!
Magpie11 said,
November 23, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Great…Now GM we have a job for you…could you possibly institute a parenting school for all those young mums and dads out there that have no idea how to bring up children?
Did you talk to Elly before she was born?
Grannymar said,
November 23, 2008 at 12:15 pm
@Baino - I missed you there, and I missed the ‘22′ plus years since Elly went away to Uni at 18 and never really came back!
@Magpie -
I did talk to ‘the bump’ regularly!
whoopsadaisy said,
November 23, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Aw what a lovely post GM. I think you are dead right that babies need to be talked to and to hear voices around them. My youngest sister was blessed with her two parents and three (much) older siblings to talk to & was talking & reading and generally alot more clever than the rest of us as a result
Grannymar said,
November 23, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Whoopsie,
One of my brothers was a great dancer. Every time he picked up his baby daughter he danced her across the room. She loved it and now at almost Elly’s age, she has a wonderful sense of rhythm and loves to dance!
Magpie11 said,
November 23, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Did she dance when music was played? Tristan did!
Grannymar said,
November 23, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Magpie,
She danced rather than walked, and I will never forget the way she danced at her wedding!
wisewebwoman said,
November 24, 2008 at 3:55 am
This brought back a lot of memories for me, GM, also. I remember how determined my first daughter was and how on her first birthday she sat covered in chocolate cake and said her first sentence: “I want more!”. she’s been like that ever since!
XO
WWW
Grannymar said,
November 24, 2008 at 1:33 pm
WWW,
I love the story of the cake!