"What? Xinhua's gone? He hasn't even celebrated his birthday yet." Zhang Shuzhen had just finished tidying up the remaining dumplings when she heard her son's words and immediately went inside.
"How did he walk? Did you help him?" Zhang Shuzhen asked her son, her face not looking too good.
When Sheng Xiping saw this, he was quite puzzled. Shouldn't it be a good thing that the child could walk? What's wrong with Mom? She seems a little unhappy.
"No, I didn't help him. He just stood up and walked by himself. Is there anything wrong with that? Is there some kind of reason behind it?"
Sheng Xiping glanced at his mother and asked tentatively.
"It's nothing. It's not good for children to walk too early. If they walk too early, they'll be tired later on."
The "tired" that Zhang Shuzhen mentioned was pronounced with the third tone. "Tired" means that life is difficult and unsatisfactory.
"It's a boy, he should at least be able to walk after his birthday. Xinhua hasn't reached his birthday yet, sigh. I was afraid of that, so I didn't dare to cut his tripping rope."
According to old folks, before a child is reincarnated, their feet are tied with a rope. To learn to walk, the rope must be cut.
Some people take advantage of the child standing up and then hide behind him with a knife or scissors, intending to chop or cut, which is called cutting the trip rope.
It is said that if the tripping rope is cut, the child will leave.
"Mom, look at you, I thought it was something serious. Did you forget that there was a leap month in August this year?"
Otherwise, Xinhua would have celebrated his birthday long ago. It's normal for him to leave now.
"Besides, who cares about these old-fashioned principles anymore? It's not fashionable to be so particular about them." Upon hearing this, Sheng Xiping breathed a sigh of relief; he had thought it was something serious.
Generally speaking, babies roll over at three months, sit at six months, crawl at eight months, and walk around their first birthday; this is the normal growth pattern.
If we calculate according to the Gregorian calendar, Sheng Xinhua is exactly one year old today. He is in good health, so it is normal for him to walk at this age; it's not too early.
Of course, the older generation calculates according to the lunar calendar, so Sheng Xinhua should have turned one year old on January 19th, which is significantly earlier than expected.
This is also why Zhang Shuzhen is not very happy; she feels that her grandson died too early and is afraid that things will not go well for him in the future.
But after her son's advice, Zhang Shuzhen thought about it carefully and realized that it made some sense.
"Forget it, whether it's tiring or not, let's not dwell on it."
"We're the last generation to leave this world, and we've had our share of hardship. But things are getting better and better from now on, so what's there to be tired of?" Zhang Shuzhen comforted herself.
"Son, come here, let Mom hug you. I heard you can walk now?"
Zhou Qinglan hadn't interrupted her husband and mother-in-law while they were talking, so she spoke up now.
Regardless of what others say, for a mother, her son learning to walk is undoubtedly a joyful thing.
Zhou Qinglan reached out, took Sheng Xinhua from her, kissed her son's cheek, then put the child on the kang (a heated brick bed), clapping her hands to guide him out.
It seems that Sheng Xinhua also found it amusing, so he walked over to his mother with great joy.
These steps were more steady and faster than before. The little guy quickly reached Zhou Qinglan, jumped into his mother's arms, and was overjoyed.
"Wow, my son is so good, he walks so steadily."
Zhou Qinglan was very nervous when her son walked just now, afraid that the little guy would fall after taking a few steps, but she didn't expect him to walk so steadily.
Zhou Qinglan was overjoyed and quickly picked up her son and kissed him twice.
Sheng Xinhua's walking was a big deal in the Sheng family. Sheng Xikang, Sheng Yunfang, and others came over to tease their little nephew and encourage him to walk some more.
Sheng Xinhua was probably tired from walking around, and now he was ignoring his uncles and aunts.
She just lay in her mother's arms, tilting her head to look at the people around her. No matter how Sheng Xikang and the others tried to coax her, she refused to get down and walk anymore.
There was still some work to be done in the outer kitchen, so Zhou Qinglan handed the child over to Sheng Xiping to soothe while she tidied up.
Then the family sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) and chatted for a while, playing with the children. Before they knew it, it was already past eight o'clock.
Sheng Xiping and his wife carried the child to the west room to change the baby's clothes, wash his bottom, apply powder, and put on diapers.
After all that was done, Zhou Qinglan unbuttoned her clothes, picked up her son, and breastfed him.
"Hmm, the little rascal can walk now, shouldn't wean him? He'll become more and more cunning, and if he just keeps wanting to nurse, he won't eat properly."
Sheng Xiping sat beside him, watching his eldest son breastfeed, and asked a question with ill intent.
“Mom said that weaning should not be done too early. Even if we don’t breastfeed until two years old, we should at least breastfeed until one and a half years old.”
Zhou Qinglan looked up and glanced at Sheng Xiping.
"Well, let's wait until school starts after the New Year. Anyway, it's a holiday now, so it won't hurt to let this little brat drink milk for a couple more months."
Don't wait until they're a year and a half old, because that's summer, and the child will be crying and fussing and getting a sore throat.
Forget about a two-year-old. Why would they need to nurse for so long? It's too much trouble.
Breastfeeding is sufficient for one year of age. Those who breastfeed for two or three years don't need to, as it creates a habit and makes weaning even more difficult.
Sheng Xiping remembers that when he was in Shuguang Forest Farm, one of his classmates was breastfed until he went to the nursery class.
In the middle of class, the child ran away. When asked why, he said he was craving milk and wanted to go home to drink it.
Everyone laughed at it, and most people didn't want to play with that classmate who hadn't been weaned yet.
"Then go tell Mom, I'm not telling her."
Zhou Qinglan laughed. She wouldn't get involved in something that would obviously cause conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Let whoever came up with the idea talk.
“Okay, I’ll talk to them then.” Sheng Xiping nodded.
I bet Mom will explode when she hears about weaning the baby. Fine, let him do the job that gets him yelled at, otherwise it'll affect the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
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