Maggie's Newest Trick

Thus far in the raising of Maggie, it's been pretty smooth sailing. Everywhere we go, we are greeted by comments of "Oh, look what a good baby!" and "Is she always this good?". And we always answer, with smiling faces, "YES! She is!". Proud that our child of course is never "that child" in public that causes the entire room to turn around and look, those with children saying "Oh, poor them. Know what THAT feels like!" and those without children saying "Awww...how cute!" or the famous "When I have a kid, it will never EVER act like that!". Up until this point, we've avoided all that.

As of this week, things are changing.

Maggie has two new tricks:

New Trick #1: Separation Anxiety

She cries everytime anyone besides her "chosen" person attempts to hold her. The "chosen" person is just whomever happens to be the one that she wants to be with. The ONLY person she wants to be with. I think we've definitely entered the phase known as Separation Anxiety. Yes, it's a real thing. The doctor even told us that around 8 or 9 months, it would start. And we've been telling ourselves that because Maggie has been so outgoing so far, that surely it wouldn't be that bad when it did finally hit. And so far, it hasn't been THAT bad. I just really hope that it doesn't get worse! And it's so unpredictable. This past week, we went over to a friend's house and there were probably about 25 people there. She was fine until one very nice lady walked up and asked if she could hold her. We handed her right off and somewhere during the transfer, Maggie realized that she felt abandoned and began to scream. So, the very nice lady proceeded to hand her right back. We just smiled and said "We're sorry. This is her new trick". Then, a very nice man came up and asked if he could hold her. Once again, we handed her right off and somewhere in the transfer, Maggie decided that she would accept this man and allow him to hold her. Hmmm...either she's just very picky or she's a little flirt. I don't know which.

New Trick #2: The Temper

This new trick deserves it's own entry. Our child has officially developed what looks like it might be a "Temper". A "Temper" is defined as arching of the legs, straightening of the arms, and screaming like a little jaguar/panther (as her Daddy says). It could be caused by a variety of things such as being placed in her high chair, being placed on her changing table, being placed in her exersaucer, being placed in her jumperoo, being placed in her carseat, or the number one cause, being placed in her crib at night. It should be mentioned, however, that the "Temper" can also appear at any other time that little Maggie chooses. Such as yesterday in the grocery store. It passed as soon as it came, but just as we turned on the cereal aisle, it started. She began to squirm around to try to see the other direction and because she couldn't do this, she proceeded to scream like a banshee at the top of her lungs and kick her legs. Another customer walked by and I don't know why, but when this happens, you feel like you should give some explanation so that maybe you can keep them from thinking whatever they're thinking. So, I did. I don't even remember what I said, but then I leaned down and looked at Maggie and said "No. No ma'am!" She looked at me and stopped pretty much immediately. Sigh of relief.

The most dreaded time of day in the Haren House is now bedtime. Maggie has discovered the art of stalling and playing "possum". For those of you who don't know what playing "possum" is, it's what you do when you pretend to be asleep and you're really not. Maggie has this mastered. Last night being the exception, every night this week, we have rocked her, listened to her favorite music cd (Baby Einstein Lullaby Classics), placed her in her crib, and tucked her in. This has been the routine for about the past 7 months and has always worked beautifully. This week, Maggie decided that she didn't want to do this anymore and the new routine is all of the above except for one small detail: the minute her head touches the crib, her eyes pop open and she begins to howl. Not just any howl, but a howl that would make our neighbors think that they should contact Social Services. We pet her tummy and talk to her and she continues to howl. Finally, we close the door and then we both go sit on the couch and stare at each other in misery. The screams coming from her room are like nothing you've ever heard before....really.

Finally, after about 10 minutes, she winds down and the spurts of "blood-curdling" shrieks stop. And she sleeps.