Of Quiet and Noise

Little RR was (mostly) well behaved at her very first play-date this afternoon with two other babies, but this evening was a different story- not her usual quiet self at all. She was really mad, judging by her tone of voice, and trotting out our usual suspects of feeding, burping, changing and rocking failed to interrupt her single-minded attention to perfecting the art of the cry.

As it happens, there is a hair dryer attached to the end of the changing table, which we use to dry off a damp posterior in between application of the baby wipe and the diaper. The mere sound of this device from across the room had an immediate and profound calming effect, quite unlike all of our parental ministrations.

Several people have mentioned using hair dryer noise as a pacifier, and we have noticed its effects before, but this time was more dramatic. The "sleep sheep" as mentioned previously was not as useful this go-round... perhaps she has built up a certain sheep immunity by this point.

One does wonder what curious mechanism is working inside her head, to which the magic key is apparently a hair dryer.

T's Top Ten

The delights of parenthood are many, but the end of pregnancy deserves its own recognition. Here is T's list of Top Ten Postpartum Pleasures:

10. Farewell to due date calculators and baby name lists, and hello to the new-to-us world of parenting blogs and instructional DVDs (how many ways are there to fasten a sling or swaddle?)

9. Fitting behind the steering wheel

8. Ibuprofen, the wonder drug

7. Carrying laundry baskets, grocery bags and the like, All By Myself. Hooray for independence!

6. A wedding ring that fits again - yes, I am actually married

5. Being able to turn over in bed on my own (forklift not required)

4. Stairs, not elevators, and walking without conscious effort and a cheering squad

3. The freedom to eat whenever I want. Fasting before & after iron pills is SO last trimester

2. The (very occasional) well-timed splurge of a dark, delicious coca-cola

1. Belly-down back rubs. Heavenly!

Parties and Celebrations

Saturday was the combination baby shower and farewell party for a dance friend. During the busy past month, I admit my self-centered vision had narrowed to the point of wondering how I could be going to another baby shower now... after all, we had already had our baby, and that was pretty much the last word on the subject of babies, surely? At any rate I set off to this event all footloose and fancy-free and trying not to think of T's travails at home with our little milk-fountain (who by day's end would soak her way through seven outfits.)

The party was a well-organized event replete with food and games, and included several other not-seen-for-months friends with their new babies in tow! Beyond all expectation, it seems the outside world has kept turning after all.

We were asked to choose some pattern, design or words of wisdom to decorate a quilt square in honor of the baby-to-be. With the guest of honor being a skilled dancer, my first thought was some dancing figure, but my best attempts at a sketch only suggested the extreme opposite of grace and poise. I decided that a repeating pattern of baby steps were a better match for my drawing skills. If they might double as some kind of riff on the Arthur Murray dance footprints from the 1920s, so much the better.

The other weekend event was T's birthday on Sunday, in honor of which her aunt treated us to a fine brunch while we enjoyed a visit with T's grandmother. Fortunately, RR was on her best behavior for the day, and reduced her earlier impressive output down to comparatively minor spit-up incidents. It was a pleasant day with enough smiles and hugs and pancakes and strawberries to keep everyone happy.

Sheep, that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care...

Our baby is 5 weeks old today, hooray! We've been told that around 3-6 weeks old they become more fussy. We've had good luck with our even-tempered little girl... up until about a week ago, when things started coming unglued. We discovered that a sustained, loud "SHHHHH" right up close to her ear had a surprisingly rapid and salubrious effect. I was unable to maintain my steam-kettle impression indefinitely, but fortunately the sleep sheep (white noise generator in the shape of a sheep) cranked all the way up, was able to take over for me. The hair dryer works too, but I don't want to leave it running.

This has not been a paid commercial endorsement. Unless someone would like to fork over some cash, in which case we can talk. Also, a radio tuned to static between stations is less cute but worked just as well.