At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms

At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms. Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school.
(a) The stage (s) of human life described in these lines is/are…
(b) Which word in the extract is a synonym of ‘vomiting’?
© The schoolboy ‘creeps like snail’ because…

(a) the first two stages of life i.e. the infant and the school going boy
(b) The word is ‘puking’.
© he is reluctant to go to school