Monday, February 1, 2010

When there is nothing you can do...

Our household has not been filled with giggles and smiles the last few days and instead it has been filled with a cranky little boy who does not know what to do. His teeth are telling his gums that they are going to grow in but nothing is happening. And that sharp feeling will not subside. And as much as he tried to chew on his bottle nipple,tried a pacifier, a teething ring, every ones fingers, his blankies,stuff animal even his baby Einstein piano. Nothing seems to help.

His little face crumples in the pathetic, adorable little pout and his lip starts to quiver and little tears stream down his face as he looks at you pleading with you to do something about these pesky teeth that are trying to grow in.

Being a single gal, I don't think I ever quite got the whole ordeal about teething. Sure, I thought I got it when a mother looked at me with those sunken eyes from not sleeping for forty eight hours and said she is is now teething. And I would say "Oh, ya I remember when my nephew started teething." Now I think about they must think. "Sure, you had two hours with the child. He didn't live with you! You got to go home!"

And it's true it's ten times different when you have this hurting five month old under your roof twenty four hours a day. You just want to snuggle him, tell him everything is okay, give him his bottle, read him a story but the problem about that is he does not want to be cuddle, he does not want his bottle and he does not want to be reading about Winnie the Pooh being stuck in the rabbit hole while he feels like his tooth is stuck in his gums.

So, what do I do? Well, I watch my mom rock the screaming child, whispering in his ear humming softly as he tries to calm down. I offer to walk him around the house. Trying every antic in the book to make him giggle, smile, coo...

I then hand him back to my mom and I go over to my laptop and turn on Ann Downing. Ann Downing...she is a Southern Gospel singer she sang with the Speers, and the Downings. And she sings this one song called "Climbing Jacob's Ladder." Jeremy has adopted this song as his own. He always laughs, and smiles whenever he hears this song.

So in the middle of his screaming ......"We are climbing Jacob's ladder one by one and step by step...." I hear him stop and listen he cuddles on my mom's shoulder as he listens to the rest of the song...

So, when you have a baby that's teething and nothing will calm him down just put on Ann Downing that will do the trick.

Oh, and a little side note I emailed Ann Downing and told her Jeremy's story and she wrote me back! I thought that was pretty neat!!

You all have a wonderful afternoon!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Glad you finally found something to help!!! (And cool that she wrote you back! :) )

Morgan