My youngest Baby though only 8-month old, is very expressive. He will smile at you of he wants to play or if he's feeling happy, he will shout if he's mad (he's his brother's copycat!), he will cry (with gigil) if he wants to eat but we didn't seem to understand/notice, or if we were not able to respond to him quickly.
At his young age, he knows how to say 'no'. Not verbally though. For example, if you're kissing him and he gets annoyed na, he'll grab you in the face and slap you gently, or if you can't resist to touch his chubby-kakagigil-cheeks, he will remove your hands and tap-tap it telling you to stop na.
I Love how his understanding of little things like recognizing pain develops at an early stage.
"Laaaance!" we both shouted as we saw him biting his baby brother's little fingers and Yobbie cries in pain. He always do this whenever he can no longer resist the gigil! But yes, we should avoid that. So we are telling him every now and then to stop "hurting" his baby brother. But kids will always be kids.
In fact, Yobbie's geting used to it and even knows how to avoid his kuya's gigil bites!
But you know what's amazing? Yobbie is a forgiving angel. He does not keep negative vibes, even pain, stuck on his system. Not just because he's a baby. Because the fact that he has already built his defense tactic towards his kuya, means he's understanding the concept of hurt or pain or annoyance in his own baby way.
But after his kuya 'attacked' him and after crying the pain out of his system, he will genuinely smile at his kuya and play with him as if nothing happened.
Or, after Lance bit him and we tell him to say sorry to his baby brother, Yobbie will reach out for his hands as if saying, "It's okay, Kuya. You are forgiven" and he'll put that sweet smile on his face again.
Simple gestures as that might not be enough to convince you that my baby knows "how to forgive" at his age. But as his mommy, this is what I am seeing, what I am feeling and this is what he is teaching me.
He is teaching me
1. To forgive even how people is trying to hurt or break you,
2. To forgive specially when you least expect that the people you love the most will hurt you the most painful (and the most often).
3. To forgive and not to really forget but be guided, that people will hurt you not only once but a LOT. Yet you have to forgive them and
4. To love them. Love those who are nice to you and love those who hurt you.
A child-like heart. Genuine love. Truest act of forgiveness. At an early age, my little Yobbie already has these characteristics. Such a beautiful angel!
If we all can have a heart like this, I think this world would be a better place to place to live. Right?
