It's Not the Baby Crying

I have just come to the realization that it's not the baby crying that annoys me. I'll explain.

While Wendy was running errands, I was tending our 2 1/2 month old Reese. She is our third child, and let me think......yeah, our 3rd child with COLIC. Colic defined:

"Colic is uncontrollable, extended crying in a baby who is otherwise healthy and well-fed. Every baby cries, but babies who cry for more than three hours a day, three to four days a week, may have colic. About 20% of babies get colic, and it equally affects boys and girls, first-born children and those born later. In general, it appears at around two to four weeks of age and can last for three months, or longer in some cases."

So, we have had our share of experience with crying babies - nothing new here. And today, while I was watching Reese, she began crying. I immediately began cycling through my mental laundry list of "Things to do to stop my baby from crying."

1. Hold her.


2. Walk aimlessly around the house with her.


3. Shake her (that's a joke in case any of you are a members of the PC police, Al Sharpton's National Action Network, or the Child Protection Services).


4. Place her on my hip at a 37.25 degree angle while keeping her arms bent at the exact same 37.25 degree angle.


5. Sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."


6. Hand her off to Wendy.


7. Bounce her in the bouncey seat.


8. Change her diaper.

After making all of these failed attempts, excluding #6 as it was not an option (although it IS my favorite much of the time), I began to buckle down and look for something new and creative. There was an empty water bottle within arm's reach. I grabbed it, I squished it, I rolled it, and I crinkled it. Doing this made a really, REALLY, annoying noise. In fact, a noise second only to the sound of the vacuum on the scale of "noisy annoyingness." But, IT WORKED! I did it for at least 10 minutes straight. By the time I was done, the water bottle was so hashed up it was recycle ready. Al Gore would be so proud.

I started thinking about the noise the bottle was making and realized that in any other circumstance, that noise would have driven me nuts. But, in this case, it didn't bother me. It was actually kind of fun watching Reese's reactions to the different types of noises. Then, I thought about the vacuum, and how I don't mind the vacuum when it is running to keep the baby from crying (a trick we have used since our first child).

So, I came to the following conclusion: It's not the noise that bothers me, it's the cause of the noise. I don't like the idea that our little baby may be in some sort of discomfort. Of course all bets are off when she is crying during the NBA Playoffs!