Ferida is my second daughter but she has introduced me to lots of new and challenging adventures such as breastfeeding for one thing. I'm not going to write a post about how holy you feel after each nursing or the role of oxytocin in socio-emotional functioning in mothers. No. This post is about eggs and pacifiers which have become inseparable from our life for the last six months.
Eggs
In Bosnia, when it is your baby's first visit to a place such as a friend or relative's house, the baby is given eggs as a gift. The custom, I assume, has some pagan roots dealing with the connotations of an egg: the full cycle of life, the symbol of earth, fertility, beginning of life, rebirth, renewal and hope. There could be other things that have made the egg a preferable gift. Eggs are always easily available and a valuable source of high-quality proteins. Well, Ferida has been visiting friends and relatives with me for some time now and imagine how many eggs we have received during our visits. It's pretty difficult to take the eggs home without breaking them though!
Pacifiers
As a new-born and even before that we received lots of pacifiers as a gift for Ferida. Although it's not a custom to give pacifiers here, they hit number 1 on the chart of baby gifts we have received. However, Ferida, as a breastfed baby, has kept refusing them. I don't know exactly why but she has shown no interest in them at all and I haven't forced her to take them. This has definitely made life harder for me because I myself have to replace all the functions that a pacifier has. On the other hand, looking at the brighter side, I won't have to go through the pacifier weaning stage and invent tales about the pacifier fairy taking it away! Well, the thing is having so many pacifiers around the house and using none is now simply annoying. I'll definitely get rid of them at the next swap market.
