Enjoying Teaching My Child

Everyday that passes has been a blessing for me, I would wake up with a big smile, knowing that my son will always be here. He's given me so much. Jacob loves to listen to music. I would hold him and dance with him a lot. I'm crazy with him. We would go outside and I would push him around in his stroller. All he would do is smile and go look every where around him. He's always exited to see the trees around him and the cars parked outside of my house. I notice that he loves to explore new things everyday. I can't wait till he starts walking.

No Junk Food Here

When Jacob grows up I won't give him any sweets, because I don't want him to have cavities. I want him to be healthy as possible. Candy and soda are really bad for the body. It only ruins your cells and messes up your teeth. I know that its good to eat candy once in awhile, but even giving Jacob one piece of candy could turn it into 10 pieces of candy a day. I wouldn't want Jacob to cry and brag for things that he certainly doesn't need. Being Jacob's mom is a wonderful thing, I love everything about him and I wouldn't change it for the world. I want the best things for him and for him to grow up healthy and with manners. Not as a gangster roaming the streets. I know its for the better to teach him now then never.

Less Sleep Needed Now

Jacob used to go to sleep around 8 o'clock, but lately he started going at 11 o'clock. I give him his supper. He plays for quite awhile, then at 5 o'clock I give him a bottle. After he drinks his bottle, he starts to play with his ear and starts to fall asleep, so I put him to bed. He's very very good at sleeping. he'll go to sleep at 11'o clock, wake up next morning at 8 o'clock. Then he wants his breakfast. A month ago he started fussing at bedtime. I wanted him to go to bed at a certain time, so I would put him in his crib. He wouldn't even cry, but I would always be tempted to pick him back up. But I would leave him in his crib for perhaps ten minutes. That seemed like a long time, but she would get tired and go to sleep. After two or three nights, he started going to sleep right away.

Stranger Anxiety

Jacob likes to play with people he knows, but he's afraid of other people. He'll smile at them, but when they come up to him, he'll cry and not let them pick him up. You can see he's afraid, but he won't cry for a long time if he knows I'm there. I explain to him, and he seems to understand.

Supervision Needed Constantly

I worry about Jacob getting hurt, but I try not to be overprotective. I worry about him falling down, but when she falls, I say, "oh, oh, you fell." I don't make a big scene out of it. I have an aunt who says, "oh, did you get hurt? oh no!" and this scares her kids more. I try to stay real calm so Jacob won't get scared. I've watched my cousins. After they fall, they keep playing until their mother screams, then they start crying. I'm learning a lot from them, and I don't want Jacob to be like them.

Reading Is Important

I read to Jacob and he loves it. He stares at me like he understands what I'm saying. I know he does. I think reading to him will help him form his speech, plus its our time together. He lies there all quietly and listens to me. I think he likes the sound of my voice. He looks at the book, and then he looks up at me. He's so cute. I'm glad I had him. He changed me a lot.

Learning on His Own

I would play with Jacob- clap my hands, tickle his foot, sing to him, talk to him. He holds his head up now. He doesn't like to play by himself as much. So I lie on the floor with him. When he gets bored, I squeak the toys for him. He plays with his feet when he's in the infant seat. He loves to chew on his chewy toy because it gives him something to do. He's hanging on to things pretty well, and he does chew on everything. I can never take my eyes off of him. He's to adorable and I love him so much.

Playing with Your Baby

What I like about him is he's fun. He's real playful with almost everybody. You Play with him just a little bit and he'll smile a lot. He always has a nice smile on his face. People say he looks so much like his dad, sometimes he would look like me. I like taking him every where with me, whether its the park when I go there with my friends to play volleyball and some basketball. There are two or three of my friends at I trust and talk to everyday. They help me out with so many things.

Safety- A Big Responsibility

Now with a child, you won't catch me partying, you won't catch me smoking. Having him changed me in so many ways. Some of my friends that have two kids say they're still in their gang and their proud. You're in a gang. Your a bullet target, and so is your kid. If somebody did something to my child, or I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and they started shooting, I would cover my son. I would let them get me before they get him. A lot of people have told me, "you should get in a gang." Why? So I can be crippled? I want to be up there running with my child. have fun with my child. I don't want to waist my life on a bunch of nothing.

Build Trust by Responding

Jacob is a good baby. He only cries when he wants something, has messy clothing, or wants to eat. He does have his fussy days when he just wants to cry. Yesterday was one of those. I barely got home from school when he started crying, and he didn't stop until 10p.m. when he went to bed. I think he's cutting teeth. Sometimes it's hard having a baby.

If Mom Is Alone

Sometimes I feel even more alone because Jason's wasn't there when I gave birth to Jacob. He was on house arrest three months before I was in labor. I'm still in touch with him, so that's a good sign. Sometimes I wouldn't see him as much as before, but I know that he tries his best to make time to come see Jacob. I'm so thankful that Jacob has a father that cares for him and loves him. I was fine all through my pregnancy except the last couple of months were real hard on me. It was stressful. I think it was because I was worrying about a lot of stuff.

Should We Get Married?

We had talked of marriage. But, I don't ever think it would happen (not sure) always giving it second thoughts. I wouldn't think it was possible, but Jason's feelings seemed to change over night. I think it had a lot to do with his mother. Once I got pregnant, she went totally weird on me. I was fine, good enough for him until I got pregnant. Then she decided I was trying to trap him. I never thought she would ever think of me in such a bad way. Jason and I have a good relationship and I want things to work out for the both of us. That means no arguments and us fighting over who gets Jacob.

Handling Future Relationships

In life I know that every teenage mother worries about what the father of there child is at all the time. As for me I don't always know where Jason would be at. Sometimes he would tell me, but 50 percent of the time, I have no clue where he would be during day and night. He would call twice a week and ask how Jacob and I are doing. I think its nice and thoughtful of him to do that, but most of the time I want him to come over and spend some quality time with our son. I know that Jacob is still young to understand things, sooner or later he will know whether his dad is there or not.

Three-Generation Living

Baby sitting was hard for me, because the kids I would baby sit are so hyper. I knew in my heart and mind that I needed my mom. She was bossy, but I did need her. I wish she could have asked instead of telling me what to do. My mom thinks her way is much better because she's older. But I'm a mother, too, and I think I should try my way to see if it works. If I were living on my own, I think I'd be a nervous wreck. I wouldn't have anyone to ask for advice. But there are times when I want to try something myself because I want to be the responsible parent to my son.

Role of Brothers and Sisters

Sometimes my sisters want to give me advice. I let them say what they want. I can ignore them anytime. For example, just lately Jacob gets crabby when he's having a bowel movement. When they see him fussing, they tell me to feed him.Or they think we should "do" something. They'll shake toys in front of his face, especially my youngest brother peter. But Jacob's too little to care much about toys. When he was just two weeks old, they wanted to shake rattles in front of his face. He didn't want that. He was just a little baby at the time. I'd tell them that, and they'd go running to tell my mom, that I was being selfish and rude. As Jacob's mom I don't mind anything that my little brothers and sisters do to piss me off. It doesn't bother me in any way because my attention is only on Jacob, not anyone else.

Mother and Daughter Time

My relationship with my mom became a little better because I started thinking about my son and how I want him to treat me. I started thinking pf her as a friend as well as a mother. She really respects me in my motherhood. She asks to hold Jacob, and that made me feel good just to know that she cares for him. She doesn't act like I'm just a little kid trying to raise a baby.

Partner's Family

It's real hard because Jason's family are all in a different culture. I'm Samoan and they're Honduras. That makes it hard. They have different upbringing then I have. I feel like I'm being forced to grow up the way they grew up, and I'm not used to that. Are we going to bring Jacob up to know both Samoan and Honduran or just English? I would like him to know both languages, but hopefully I would teach him to speak Samoan only to those in the family who speak Samoan. There are a lot of them. I'm trying to learn Spanish, but I find it real hard to communicate with his family. When they want to know about Jacob I usually go through Jason or his mom, who know both languages. I'm trying to learn it so I can talk to Jacob in both languages.