More musing upon the fun of babies...

This occurred to me as I was sitting down to pump so I can feed my little darling and he decided to start fussing in the other room. Read and enjoy!

How do babies know the most inopportune times to fuss? Granted, they'll fuss at anytime, but it seems like there is some rule that determines if it is an exceptionally inconvenient time, they must have a crying fit. Here's a hypothetical scenario that has probably played out unnumbered times around the world:

The child seems to have settled down finally for a nap and you decided to scrub the foot encrusted dishes that have sat waiting for the last 72 hours (at least). You're up to your elbows in water hot enough to scald the flesh from your bones. A plethora of knives, forks, and other instruments of tetanus bearing doom lurk under the surface, awaiting the tender ministrations of steel wool and industrial strength cleaner, as well as to julienne your water softened flesh with the slightest mistaken movement.

It is then, at the precise moment you are reaching in to clean the forth potential item of death that an ear piercing shriek summons you. In your startled parental terror, you envision your mewling newborn child being carried off by a pack of rabid hyenas to either be devowered or introduced to all the bad behaviors of those raised by wolves (of whom the hyena is the trouble-maker cousin).

Now, I am certain that a number of parental 'suicides' are actually due to massive injury sustained by dish washing caregivers whom have sliced a major artery in their rush to replace the lost pacifier. A pacifier which is ignored by the child whom falls back to sleep with the first parental footfall past the nursery threshold.*





*Please note, suicide is not something I advocate. Neither am I making light of the pain suffered by the family, loved ones, and friends of a victim of suicide. As one who has occasionally struggled with this particular demon, I feel that I can make light of it to some extent. It helps me to stave that bit of temptation off. If you don't like it, dear Reader, I really don't care.