Benjamin: currently just another mouth to feed

Posted by spots (Singapore, Singapore) on 4 April 2007 in People & Portraits and Portfolio.

Infants. Inexplicable crying squidges with no personality. You can't interact with them, communicate to them, except to feed them, put them to sleep and change their diaper. If this were the be all and end all of motherhood, oh how dreary motherhood would be! Days of endless feeding are followed by nights of endless feeding. And then the day comes again... and with it, endless feeding once again.

But thank GOD that infants eventually (and rather quickly) grow to become toddlers - mini humans with personality, wit and intelligence. Actual people who can mimic you, respond with words, laugh, run, play and hug.

Right now, Benjamin is just another mouth to feed. I spend most of my time with him. Yet I do not know him at all. For he has no character. No personality. Or at least, none that has been presently revealed. Spending so much time with someone like that can be rather dull. You end up talking to yourself a lot. Or, you pretend to be Benjamin and have a conversation between "Benjamin" (you) and you (you).

I cannot wait for Benjamin to grow up. I want to see what kind of person he's like. Whether he'll be like his brother - loud, friendly, cheeky, smiley, big appetite, funny. Or whether he'll be the opposite - quiet, shy, demure, serious, eating like a bird, dead pan. It is so hard to tell now. After all, for the first 6 months of Daniel's life, he deceived us into thinking he was the quiet non-smiley sort. Look at him now.

Well, I suppose I have no choice but to wait. In the meantime, it's back to feeding this mouth called Ben. ...

Comments (9)

ben from Singapore

ha.... i believe that all Benjamins will turn out to be just wonderful.... oh heyz... that includes me and ur son too!! yay!:D

5 Apr 2007 1:43am

Cassia from Singapore

Ben is so cute to be wrapped in this way. :) Pray that God will give you more joy in the feeding and seeing them growing up.

Think whether we sometimes will become unresponsive baby to God. Hehe, I think too far.

5 Apr 2007 7:07am

bwee from Singapore

Hey the recieving blanket is sooo cute! :)

5 Apr 2007 12:46pm

Dad from Singapore

Hey, be patient with Benj. Afterall, you have gone thru such a phase with Dan. And you are now enjoying motherhood with the way Dan has grown from newborn to the toddler that he is today. Likewise, Benj will grow up too. May be not with the same traits as Dan. Like I said before, the two will grow up to have their own personalities. This is where motherhood comes in again. Its how you and Bim will nurture them into responsible adults in society. This process is a life-long journey.

5 Apr 2007 8:43pm

Tzehui from Singapore

Hi Ruth,
Siaohui here...bim's cousin....i am sure Ben will definitely surprise you with his own unique personality in the time to come....just like what Dan has proved to u and Jovan to me....I am really looking forward to what is in store for me when Jovan's little brother comes along in July... :)

6 Apr 2007 10:47pm

skgoh from Singapore

You're still swaddling? Nurse at hospital said that we only needed to swaddle for one week and it's so hot in Singapore that I decided to spare Emma the torture of being swaddled in the day. I suppose it's much colder where you are.

Ben looks exactly like Daniel!!!

9 Apr 2007 5:56am