Posts Tagged crying
Are You Telling Me Pretty People Don’t Pay?
Posted by Proud Dad in Baby on Board on June 10, 2010
LTD has begun a pretty new, awesome and exciting phase. A phase in which, randomly and with warning, he will flip out in his stroller or car seat in protest at being confined. This occasional behavior manifests itself when trying to put him in his car seat or after he has been in the stroller for a while. In dealing with the car seat drama The Mommy and I rely on a steady diet of distraction and patience. The good news about him yelling in the car is that when you are trying to put him in the seat and he screams, his mouth is usually right next to your year. Why is this 
good news? Because it makes your ears ring and your head hurt in such a way that when it finally stops you are happy to be alive and experience a calm spiritual moment of gratitude to the universe that the worst is over.
Flipping out in the stroller comes with its own set of challenges due to the fact that if he is in the stroller it means he is out among the public. Again, distraction works here, but sometimes you just have to move on which can be tricky if you are looking at or buying something. Last week, The Mommy and I decided to pick up dessert for an impromptu petite soiree we were having. We close to a Crumbs and so we duck in to get some cupcakes. The huge number of cupcake choices made the decision hard and we were in the store for longer than LTD would have liked. Just as I was finishing up, he let it be known to all that he was unhappy. He didn’t just scream, he also tried to break free from his stroller bonds. I quickly ran back to the counter and asked if they had a small plain cookie. The clerk said they had a small one with chocolate in the middle to which I said great and reached for my wallet. She said, don’t worry about it and gave the small cookie for free. Not only did the cookie silence the little guy it became proof of a universal truth in life. When pretty people pitch a fit they get whatever they want and for free.
Eruption
LTD hit his first year and so now his first year is hitting back. Welcome to first year molars and the little guy is not happy about it. When his front teeth came in he was in pain, but powered through it and his teething episodes didn’t last long. Well, things have changed. The front teeth with their shark shape cut through relatively quickly and with a certain aerodynamic flare. The molars, however, look like Mt. Everest and seem almost as big. When I look in LTD’s mouth and see the new tooth/mountain range forming my teeth start to hurt.
LTD usually gets a low fever when he is teething, but Tylenol seems to help. Another side effect of the teething process is LTD’s desire to bite and chew on anything that comes near his maw area. We definitely have a Jaws situation starting to occur and we definitely are going to need a bigger boat. Lastly, he wakes up for short periods for brief crying spells through the night. All in all not a big deal except when I go put his pacifier back in at three in the morning he goes right back to sleep and I’m up for another hour. Perhaps I should watch the Dwayne Johnson movie, The Tooth Fairy, I’m pretty sure that would put me right to sleep.
What is This Salty Discharge From my Eyes?
Posted by Proud Dad in Baby on Board on February 23, 2010
I can’t remember exactly when it happened, but I do know it was a little sad when I finally noticed it. LTD now has tears. There is something a little heartbreaking to see your child upset and screaming with tears streaking down his face for the first
time. You get over it. Because he is still basically a baby he doesn’t generate a ton of water works or even mucus for that matter, I guess he is saving up for his first all out temper tantrum (an event I can only hope comes in a crowded store with hundreds of people staring and judging me). In fact, most of the time, like the Indian in the anti-pollution commercial, usually a lone tear flows slowly down his little face. The tear displays a quiet dignity in contrast to his ear piercing wails as he continues his long march towards manhood.
Super Bawl XLIV
Posted by Proud Dad in Baby on Board on February 8, 2010
LTD spent his first Super Bowl intercepting The Mommy and I from having a good time. He was cranky all day Sunday, but we figured getting out of the house would do us all good so we took a gamble and went over to my buddy Brian’s house to enjoy the game with his HD projector and huge screen. LTD spent the first half enjoying the festivities, then because he was rooting for the Saints and they were down at the half he got pretty angry. His meltdown began slowly as I walked around with him to try and quiet him down allowing me to only miss two big plays. As the game got more and more exciting he got more and more upset. The Mommy and I decided we would be enjoying the game from the car radio as we left Brian to not only watch the game, but listen to it without the screams of an angry baby.
We arrived home during the middle of the fourth quarter and once LTD was back in a familiar setting he was able to fall asleep with Winnie the Pooh in his crib. A few rounds of Motrin and Tums later The Mommy and I watched the end of the game. It was awesome that the Saints won, but as a father what made it nice for me was to see a teary eyed MVP Drew Brees holding his son on the field. What was even cooler was that some really smart person had his son wear big noise blocking headphones. Now if only I had thought of that.
The All-Nighter
It took nearly eight months, but it finally happened LTD got sick. We are talking a minor stomach bug that gave him a small fever, a ton of poops and a crying jag that lasted almost the entire night. The Mommy and are in full zombie mode today and of course the little guy is acting like nothing happened. Thankfully, none of his symptoms were too severe and going to the doctor or ER didn’t seem necessary. LTD received his first drops of Tylenol and sucked the dropper dry, so I’m guessing that either he liked the cherry flavoring or Tylenol is his new gateway drug.
At four am, as his tiny face became one big open mouth used to shriek at the top of his growing lungs, I got to thinking about how difficult it must be for single parents to deal with the DEFCON 5 meltdown and if there are other kids in the house or some other bad situation, I can’t imagine how hard it is to deal with things without snapping. Believe me when I write that The Mommy and I both know how lucky are we are that LTD is healthy and we didn’t have our first fever for almost 8 months. I also realize how lucky I am that we don’t have poop all over the house since I have never seen so much of it and produced so quickly I might add. Now all that’s left is to clean his runny nose before he gets that gross dried snot look favored by sick babies in cartoons.
Such a Good Baby
Posted by Proud Dad in Baby on Board on October 29, 2009
It happens mostly while we are in the checkout line of the supermarket. The comment usually comes from an older lady. She will say to me on behalf of LTD, “Wow, such a good baby.” What is the little guy doing to warrant such a favorable rating? Nothing. He just sits in his carrier in the cart staring around. So my question is this, what are other babies doing that is so horrific that when a baby does nothing special he is labeled good? I guess deep down I know why, they are flipping out while having a level 5 meltdown in public. But, every time someone tells me that LTD is such a good boy, when all he is doing is existing, it makes me think that some people imagine that babies throw tantrums every second of the day. It really seems like in their minds, all babies only cry always and whenever they see one in public and he isn’t crying they are truly shocked and amazed. Well, I’m here to tell you that if babies cried 24 hours a day, people would not have babies ever and we as a species would be extinct. So my message to all the ‘such a good baby’ people is to simply say, “such a cute baby” or better still “can I offer to help pay for college?”
The Whole Tooth and Nothing but the Tooth
This past Labor Day we went to visit The Mommy’s family, who live outside Buffalo, NY. The car ride only took 10 hours but with a dog and a baby in the small car it was a rare treat to really spend time with everyone. The trip was fun and relaxing as I turned the baby over to the grandparents so I could sleep. However, on Sunday, we drove around Buffalo and as we were passing the spot where on September 14, 1901 President William McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz the baby had a level 5 meltdown. We couldn’t figure it why he was flipping out, but as we stopped near the house were Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office we discovered something else being inaugurated, a tooth.
The little sharp triangle edge of LTD’s bottom front tooth poked out just enough to cause the little guy a pretty good amount of pain and our ears a pretty good amount of ringing. The tooth barely sticks out but just enough to feel like LTD is turning into a shark when I put my finger across his gums. I keep expecting him to sing the theme from Jaws, but instead I just get coos and ahhs. We dipped the pacifier and his burp cloth in some ice water and after sucking on both for a while he was comforted. In the end, all I can say is that if teething hurt the entire time none of us would ever survive. Time to sign LTD up for a good dental plan.
No, That’s the Upstairs Pacifier
Posted by Proud Dad in Baby on Board on July 30, 2009
LTD has taken to the pacifier like a fish to water. The good news is that it doesn’t feel like he is addicted to them and in need of baby rehab. The bad news is that we keep losing them. The pacifiers, whose numbers have grown, end up everywhere. We have found them under the couch, in the car, the floor of stores and, of course, on the dirty sidewalk. The pediatrician told us to wash them off in the sink and not our mouths as it turns out our mouths ain’t so clean. Also, you need to sterilize them in hot water when they first come out of the package.
The pacifier also presents two challenges. The first being not to laugh when LTD yanks it out and it makes a popping noise like he is a baby bottle of champagne. The second being when he is sucking on it, falls asleep, it falls out and he wakes up crying. I guess when you write them down the first one isn’t really a challenge. As for the second issue, the doc told us not to put it back in if he falls asleep and it falls out, but if he’s crying, you got to put the genie back in the bottle. In a few months we get to start to wean him off of the pacifier. I’m gearing up for a ‘we can do this the easy way or the hard way’ conversations.
Good News, He’s Asleep Now Try and Put Him Down
Posted by Proud Dad in Baby on Board on July 21, 2009
There is an old saying, when the gods want to punish you they grant your wishes. With that maxim in mind, LTD has started a fun new trick. When we put him down for the night in his crib, he will fall asleep, but after a bit he wakes up. So we pick him up and rock him back to sleep, no problem. Problem, when we put him down again, he instantly wakes up in order to let us know that he is not happy. Not even a little bit. This pattern continues as the clock clicks off precious daddy and mommy late night sleep minutes. I really don’t know what started this new behavior, but it doesn’t happen every night and usually doesn’t last all that long. One of the joys of being a parent comes in watching your baby achieve new development milestones and one of the hard parts of being a new parent comes when you try to read the mind of a four month old. A four month old who once tried to put an entire burp cloth in his mouth. The truly difficult thing is dealing with new patterns that don’t make any sense. When he is asleep and his pacifier pops out and he cries, that at least makes sense, this needing to be rocked stuff feels really out of the blue. I guess in the end, we all just want to be held.
The Shriek
Posted by Proud Dad in Baby on Board on July 7, 2009
For most people, I think that when you say “babies”, the first thing that pops into their minds would be the word “cute”, but you have to believe that a very close second would be the word cry. LTD is now four months old and his cries have been fairly consistent between hungry and tired. Occasionally, he will throw in cries for having a dirty diaper or having gas. All in all, they have become pretty predictable and for the most part easily remedied. Lately and usually in the evening, he decides to play the shriek card. The shriek is the baby equivalent of the nuclear option. LTD lets loose with this rebel yell for no visible or clear explanation, but if there is some hidden reason it seems solely designed to destroy my brain cells. The shriek needs only be deployed for a moment in order to give me an instant headache. The only bright spot in dealing with the shriek is that it doesn’t last long. Together we work on new ways to calm him and separately we have been reading up on our Zen techniques. The truth is that maybe the shriek isn’t really a special horrifying cry it just feels that way at the end of a long day.