In case I'd wondered if someone had switched babies at the hospital, Teagan is proving that she most definitely is our daughter. This may be a surprise to our respective parents, but Amy and I are both... hmmm... strong-willed individuals. It seems that our lovely daughter has discovered her own will, and is practicing asserting it.
Tonight, Amy went out and Teagan and I stayed home together. Teagan wanted held. I was willing to hold her and play with her, but I also wanted to get some other things done. So, after some play time, I put her in her swing and set it in motion, which usually puts her to sleep. Teagan decided she wasn't done being held, and thus the screaming began. I walked over to the swing to soothe her, cooed at her a bit, but she wasn't having any of it. After a few minutes I caved and picked her up. Shortly thereafter she stopped screaming again. I put her down. Same song, different verse. After a few put-down, pick-up iterations, she realized that after she calmed down she was going to be deposited in the swing again, so she just kept screaming. This time, I laid her down in her crib and gave her some toys. She cooed and gurgled a bit, played with Mrs. Ducky and Mr. Lion, so I left her. Cue the screaming. I let her scream for a few minutes, then went back in, soothed her, put her back down, more screaming. AUGH! She ended up getting herself so wound up she even made herself sick. Of course, when Amy walked in the door, she settled down and started cooing again.
Anyhow, I was thinking that I won that round until I realized I didn't get anything done. D'oh! I guess I'll have to try harder next time...
4 comments:
Tom,
That had to be so frustrating! But be comforted in the fact that strong-willed often indicates high intelligence. Small silver lining.
i feel your frustration. It sounds like you handled it as best as you could. The hard part is when you (as parents) decide that it is time for her to sleep in her crib for the evening. Maybe you're past that point. All I know is that the wife couldn't take all the screaming. Me? I just ignored it, read my book and looked up at the clock. 15 minutes go by, you go in, tell them it's okay and that you love them and that you'll be back in 15 minutes. Cue screaming. Eventually they just stop. Or at least that's the way it sometimes goes. We're still trying to break Norah of the evening feeding, again. She gets sick and then you cave and give her something to eat (since she ate for crap during the day) then you spend a month or so getting her used to NOT getting the night feeding. *sigh* I'd say welcome to the club, but you've heard that so many times that you probably want to scream and puke yourself. Whatever makes you feel better I guess. :)
And as far as that strong-willed = high intelligence thing goes... I guess my daughter is gonna be a friggin genius x 2.
I wanted to clear some things about one of the comments posted on your blog. We didn't let Norah start "crying it out" until she was 9 months old for nap time and night time.
Your Baby T is too young to soothe herself. She will be able to do that when she's 6 months or older. Although, it would be great if they could do it right from the start? :-)
Teething and illness does interrupt the sleep goodness you get when the babies are older.
I spend my time at home taking care of a baby. I don't always make the best choices. See Darrin's comment about feeding.
I know it's very hard on us parents, when all you want to do is get stuff done but, just remember that your Baby T won't be a baby forever.
There will come a time when she won't want to be held anymore. It comes faster than you think.
Tom and Amy, strong willed?
Say it isn't so!
All three of ours are strong willed (surprise surprise), and I've learned on certain occasions that earplugs helps when trying to do the right thing. Oh, and closed windows, too.
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