The Mrs. asks, "How was your day?" to which I usually reply, "OK". For the most part this means that while the day has been challenging, it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle. Maybe a little stress here and there but nothing like when I first started as an "at home dad". That was a tough time.
I don't think I came with the patience for a baby even though my wife supported me. She seems to handle it so well. The only time I can tell she's had a hard day with CM is how fast she hands her over to me after I get home from work or if she looks frazzled.
My instincts come more from being a dog trainer and what I've read in the baby books. Even some of that seems to conflict. So if CM starts howling, I created a checklist to work through. Diaper, check, bottle, check, etc.
What happens when she starts crying, you change the diaper (which wasn't real bad), offer a bottle, even walk her around, doing my "Passing Wind" dance and she still continues to cry? What's worse is that I can get her at least a little calm and knowing that she's hungry offer her the bottle again to which she screams, no, screeches, at the top of her lungs. I find that sometimes just sitting her down for a minute or two in her crib will calm her down or she'll fall asleep.
I just checked. She's out like a light. I know that she will be even more hungry when she wakes but at least she calmed down quickly. Is this right to do? Some of you might say, "You've got to comfort her so she can learn to trust in you in the future". That's well and good but what if just picking her up makes her cry harder? Others may say, "It's OK to let them cry it out". She's only four months old. I've been told you can't do that until they are several months older or else they won't understand. All I can say is that she fell asleep by the time I was half done with this post, so maybe she just wanted to lay down after all. I don't know.
Sorry, no cute "baby sleeping" photo. I can hear her start to whimper again...
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