She fell off the bed!

Salma fell off the bed last night for the first time! Wakakaka. It was around 3 am. I've been expecting this to happen ever since she started rolling over on her own (and from all the input that experienced moms have been giving me), and was less surprised about it than my husband, who seemed pretty shocked and pissed off that it happened. If you haven't guessed, she still sleeps with us, and I haven't gotten round to training her to sleep on her own in the cot for the entire night yet. Usually she sleeps in the center, but sometimes I switch breasts for night feeds, and when she falls asleep on the other side, I usually don't move her back to the middle.

She is quite a lasak baby. And I haven't figured out what the English translation of the word "lasak" is yet, but it means "cannot sit still". But I don't think she was asleep when she fell off, I think she must have been awake for quite some time and was rolling around until she fell off with a resounding "thud!" The "thud" sound woke me up and then the screaming cry. I picked her up off of the floor and my husband quickly grabbed her from me (as if I was the one that pushed her off the bed), and started to soothe her by carressing her head gently. She stopped crying and looked more shocked than hurt. She was uninjured, but continued to look shocked while I fed her. The funny thing was, she didn't fall parallel to the bed as I'd expected, but perpendicular to it. I just couldn't help laughing to myself because I knew this was going to happen, just as it happened to me, and my little brother and sister while we were growing up. I remember my brother fell off the bed several times. And each time he pretended that it didn't happen. Can you imagine a baby that was embarrassed about falling off the bed, or embarrassed about pooping in his diaper in public (he had to hide behind a curtain or a pillar)... that was my little brother when he was a baby.

Salma was giggling after half an hour. She didn't go back to sleep straight away. I cradled her for awhile before dozing off myself. And she went right back to sleep. I sincerely hope she remembers that she fell off, and how she fell off, so that she won't try to do it again. I don't know how a baby's memory works at 5 months, but I sure hope she remembers something of the experience so as not to repeat it, cos I let her lie on the bed by herself with pillows as barriers while I am doing other stuff in the room. I sometimes spread the duvet on the floor for her to roll around too. But I will probably start training her to sleep in the cot in earnest now. hehe.