Baby Noble (2)

The best thing that happened to me this past week had to be the 70 hours I spent at my hometown, playing with Baby Noble: the happiest, smartest, kindest and most beautiful baby on earth right now. How is it possible that a baby does not get cranky at all or need a pacifier or a swing? I wonder which good deed I did in the past that got me this niece...

However, this smart and beautiful baby owes me a beach vacation when she grows up... (Should I still go beach-vacation when I'm 60?)

My mother was busy running errands (and shopping 🙄) for two days in a row, and she left me (and another sister) with this tiny baby, with very little instruction, which I only realized later. The idea was, this sister was supposed to be in charge of Baby Noble and I was just the sidekick, you know, the one who fetches the diaper or boils water.

If I've ever fed a baby, it must be about 10 years ago and it was never a six-month-old. Two-year-olds, toddlers who can already speak and hold their own bottle are fine. Six-month-old is tiny. And that sister who was supposed to know better than me pretended to be asleep the whole day!

Mixing formula is fine. I've never burnt any of my Chemistry labs, so baby formula is easy. Feeding was a tiny challenge, but I'm a good aunt. God helps the good aunts and anyone who can make clown faces. Burping, although a bit tricky, is manageable. I made her sit for half an hour. Everyone burps after half an hour. Making her sit is an accomplishment by itself because I didn't know how to hold her until about two months ago. And napping is easy too. She sleeps on her own, and I don't have to entertain her at all. In fact, she was the one who entertained me the whole two days...

But changing diapers... OMG I cannot do that!

The traitor that is my sister was still sleeping and pretended to be cranky when I tried to wake her up. I was very close to just wait for my mother to come home, but I was worried this beautiful baby would get rashes, and I love her so much. Oh, the dilemma.

I looked at the angelic face for 10 minutes, weighing my strategy. Then the reality started to strike me, I really have to change her diaper!

When my mother told me to "check the baby's diaper" before she left this morning, it never occurred to me that it was going to be real. I thought it was going to be the same instruction as "wear decent clothes" where I would nod but never really think about it. But this is real, someone's diaper has really been entrusted to me!

Still in half-disbelief, half-moving-without-thinking, I mixed a huge pail of warm water and braved myself. Yikes. Changing diapers shouldn't be a thing. Seriously. This task is so not my personality. And no one has ever taught me how to hold a baby in the bathroom either.

I think I belted out a song in the process -- besides yelling, guessing, fast talking and doing a gymnastic trick or two I never knew I could do. Putting on a new set of clothes wasn't a walk in the park either. Did you know that babies won't bend their arms when you want to put them a new shirt? They don't cry or anything, but they just freeze their arms and stare at you with "Hah, gotcha, you don't know how to bend my arms" look. I sprawl on the floor like I've just run a marathon every time I'm done.

Note: If you are wondering, my parents are currently taking care of Baby Noble while she's still small. Her parents work in KL, visit her at least twice a month and buy her all sorts of useless toys at every chance they get. She, on the other hand, prefers playing with the remote control and papers, rolling the laundry basket and flipping care labels.