I say this not to nag or whine, but to prod.
One of the most surprising things I’ve learned about babies is how much they whine. Unless Abbie is just an excessive whiner, in which case I feel cheated.
When I say whine, I’m not referring to full-blown crying caused by things like pain from bonking her head on something hard or frustration from when we close the dog’s kennel so she can see the dog’s food but can’t eat any of it. Abbie does plenty of that kind of crying, too, but I expected that. When I say whine, I’m referring to the complaining she does usually when she’s bored, and Abbie is bored more often than her mother when she’s forced to watch the NBA playoffs. Complaining for her (Abbie, not Ellie) involves a constant string of “aaaaahhhhhh” punctuated by the occasional inhale. Sometimes she crumples into a ball on the floor and degenerates into full-blown crying, other times she’ll crawl over and grab my pants leg before degenerating into full-blown crying. Either way the end result is undesirable.
I wish I understood the thought process of a bored infant. When I force her to accompany me on a genuinely dull activity, like buying groceries or driving to the store to buy groceries, I can understand why she would be bored. When I need to do something important though, like write a grocery list, and I leave her alone on the floor surrounded by books and electronic toys and plastic shopping bags*, I cannot understand how she could be bored. I would love it if someone watching me left me alone with the toys and various fragile items with no expectation of good behavior beyond not complaining. Sure enough though, every time I’m scanning the cupboards trying to remember if that second to last letter is an “i” or an “o” in cinnamon (it’s an “o”), I get an “aaaaahhhhhh” followed by a tug on my pants and full-blown crying. I can’t wait until she’s old enough for me to understand “if you’re bored I’ll give you something to do.”
Don’t misunderstand me, Abbie is overall a good baby and I love her dearly. I just wish she wouldn’t grumble quite so often while I’m trying to love her.
* We do not let her play with plastic shopping bags, no matter how much she enjoys them
When I say whine, I’m not referring to full-blown crying caused by things like pain from bonking her head on something hard or frustration from when we close the dog’s kennel so she can see the dog’s food but can’t eat any of it. Abbie does plenty of that kind of crying, too, but I expected that. When I say whine, I’m referring to the complaining she does usually when she’s bored, and Abbie is bored more often than her mother when she’s forced to watch the NBA playoffs. Complaining for her (Abbie, not Ellie) involves a constant string of “aaaaahhhhhh” punctuated by the occasional inhale. Sometimes she crumples into a ball on the floor and degenerates into full-blown crying, other times she’ll crawl over and grab my pants leg before degenerating into full-blown crying. Either way the end result is undesirable.
I wish I understood the thought process of a bored infant. When I force her to accompany me on a genuinely dull activity, like buying groceries or driving to the store to buy groceries, I can understand why she would be bored. When I need to do something important though, like write a grocery list, and I leave her alone on the floor surrounded by books and electronic toys and plastic shopping bags*, I cannot understand how she could be bored. I would love it if someone watching me left me alone with the toys and various fragile items with no expectation of good behavior beyond not complaining. Sure enough though, every time I’m scanning the cupboards trying to remember if that second to last letter is an “i” or an “o” in cinnamon (it’s an “o”), I get an “aaaaahhhhhh” followed by a tug on my pants and full-blown crying. I can’t wait until she’s old enough for me to understand “if you’re bored I’ll give you something to do.”
Don’t misunderstand me, Abbie is overall a good baby and I love her dearly. I just wish she wouldn’t grumble quite so often while I’m trying to love her.
* We do not let her play with plastic shopping bags, no matter how much she enjoys them
posted by Matt at
10:35 PM
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