Elijah's Favorite Things

I won't go as far as saying Elijah is "colicky", but, wow--that boy can CRY! He seems to think that the magical hour of power for crying is 2am. We keep trying to convince him to sleep at night and party in the day, but he has his own plans.

We've watched "Happiest Baby on the Block" (twice) and have tried shooshing (til we're out of breathe), swaddling (we wrap his little Mexican body up like a burrito), swinging (aka, "neglect-o-matic" as one book called it), sucking (there's no shortage of food or pacifiers around here), shaking (sounds worse than it is), and turning him on his side. (The "Happiest Baby" doctor says there are 5 "s" ways to soothe a crying baby, and I realize that's 6, but whatever...) It seems that any of these will work when he's just cranky.



But they do not work when he's in a full-blown cry. What works at 3am after we've tried changing him, feeding him, warming or cooling him, walking, talking, singing, and the 5 (or 6) S's?

Besides a stiff drink for mommy and daddy, turning on the faucet or turning on our house fan--either one at full blast seems to stop the cries like an off button.

Great, you say, that you've found a solution! And yes, it is great that there's some way to quiet this little boy. However, it's difficult to get any sleep while standing in the entry way holding him under the loud fan, or standing in the bathroom or kitchen next to the sink, wasting water. But...standing around with a quiet baby is better than standing around with a screaming baby.

Funnies:

Eww...


(This photo comes to us from his Aunt Nikki and Uncle Jimmy... remind me not to let them babysit)

Fast asleep, with one hand waving...

No matter how much he cries, he's still the cutest baby his mommy and daddy have ever seen.