This is the face we most often see on our little baby girl. She cries a LOT. It's not a cute cry either. It's a horrible shrieking, blood curdling scream that I've only heard previously from monsters in horror films. And it goes on all day and all night with the exception being when she is asleep, eating, or during her half hour of "quiet" awake time that we get to actually see her smiling and responding to us. In fact, as I'm blogging, she is sitting in her bouncer behind me, screaming her little head off. And please, don't recommend "Happiest Baby on the Block" as a solution. It worked like magic when Emmett was a baby. Bethany doesn't seem to care what we do and nothing can reliably stop the screaming so far.
I frequently worry about what Emmett thinks when he sees Bethany cry and her only consequence is to have someone hold her and give her attention. If Emmett starts to throw fits and whine, he gets a time out for bad behavior. I'm sure it doesn't seem fair. Sometimes, when he doesn't get what he wants, I've noticed he tries to imitate Bethany's scream.Two children making this noise, however, is the last thing I want. If Emmett whines, cries, or pouts I will first ignore it. If it continues, I hold his little head between my hands, look him in the eye, and tell him, "That's enough, Emmett." He usually calms down at that point and exclaims, "Emmett's happy boy!" but if he fails to convince me that he is happy and keeps whining, he goes into time out. It may not be perfect, but it's what we've been doing.
While I was making lunch today, Bethany was lying on the floor on a blanket screaming as usual. She had been screaming all day. I looked up from the peanut butter honey sandwich I was making and saw Emmett lying on the floor next to her, reprimanding her. This is what I overheard:
B: AHHHH!! Screech, gurgle, AHHH!! (she does not make a "waa" sound)
E: That's enough, Bethany!
B:Grrrr, AHHH, whimper, AHHH!!
E: Bethany, that's ENOUGH!
B: AHHH! Shriek!!
E (changing tactics): Bethany, be happy. Be happy girl, Bethany. Shhh....happy girl...shhhh.
It didn't work, but it sure was cute! And who can blame him for trying to get her to stop? We're all a little worn out here from the constant night and day shrieking. None of us are getting enough sleep. Yesterday Emmett was so exhausted he fell asleep eating with his sandwich in his hand:
2 comments:
I'm so sorry. When Claire was a baby, Audrey and Megan heard me say, "Babies just cry a lot." so much that they eventually would just say it whenever she'd be crying--as if to reassure themselves. I remember thinking, "When am I going to someday be able to make dinner without having to listen to my baby cry?!" because that's when it seemed to be worst. Hang in there :)
Bless you. ... Bless you.
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