Baby’s Other Annoying New Habit

Last week I informed you about Peanut’s terribly cute and annoying habit of snorting at me. As I pointed out she utilizes this tool to get my attention when she is displeased with the current situation.

Building on this she has found a new way to get her sap daddy’s attention. Babies need to take naps, lots of them. Usually when your baby is tuckered out you can put her down to sleep with minimum fuss.

However, I have heard terrible stories about babies who have trouble falling asleep. Of course, there are always times when she is simply over tired or grumpy and has difficulty sleeping.

Generally Peanut has been the best baby a parent could hope for. When she starts rubbing her eyes I know its time to put her down for a rest.

But recently she has decided, about every third nap or so, that sleeping isn't on the agenda. In this case she starts crying. Now some times babies need to cry a little before they fall asleep. Our parenting book, “What to Expect” says you should let them cry for a few minutes, ten max, before picking them up.

Peanut, however, isn’t really crying. You see, she has learned to “fake cry.” When she doesn’t want to sleep she starts her pretend crying. I know she is not really upset because the tone is different from the tone when she is hurt (Bopped in the head by her own toy), scared (Not sure why but she gets spooked), or overtired (This one sounds like a cat being strangled).

What she has figured out is that her sap of a dad will come running when she cries. I’d have to bee a real curmudgeon to ignore a little girl crying. So when I come running over to her she looks at me and smiles and laughs. It is all very hilarious to her. Sometimes she’ll do this two or three times before she gets bored. I don’t pick her up after all. I just smile back and go about my work.

A few days ago I decided to break her of this awful habit. When Peanut began her routine I peeked in at her. She couldn’t see me. She stopped and then cried again. For some reason, her tactic having failed, she began bawling. The type that suggested she was spooked. Probably since she thought sap had abandoned her. So I charged in she calmed down and went to sleep.

I find it alarming that she has already contrived ways to get attention from men. She’s only seven months but I’m already terrified of her being sixteen.

That aside, her new habit, while cute, is incredibly annoying. Nothing is worse than putting her down settling in for some task and being interrupted five minutes into it. Nap time is, after all, the biggest chunk of free time for me. Yes there are three of them and yes once she falls asleep I have one to two hours of uninterrupted time. Even though I know it is a hoax it is not worth the risk of ignoring her.

Mostly though, I object to a pretty girl treating me like a chump.

Peanut's Annoying New Habit

Peanut has learned a new trick. It is annoying to say the least. At the same time it is adorable and ridiculous. I first noticed it about a week ago. Not being sure if it was intentional I waited to see if she would repeat it.

As you know I put her down to play with her toys while I work on the computer and do chores. While she will play for a bit by herself she prefers that someone play with her.

So the other day I put her down to play and sat down to type up some work. Peanut decided that she did not want to play by herself. She snorted at me. It was a snort. She made the noise through her nose not her mouth. The sound was very much like one a toddler makes when it wants attention. After all most toddlers act out instead of saying something like, "Yo, pay attention to me."

I was not sure what to make of it. I looked at her and she smiled at me so I resumed my typing. Unhappy with the result she did it again. Taking the hint we played. Then she ate and had a nap.

The next day, under similar circumstances, she did it again. I decides to test whether this was intentional. After looking at her she smiled and I went back to work. Peanut snorted again, several times. I looked at her, she smiled, I went back to work.

She was extremely dissatisfied with this result and proceeded to snort a half dozen times loudly and vigorously. So we played and my work got done while she was napping.

Oddly enough, having learned the value of this technique, she turned it on her mother later that day. Her mother was home from work and enjoying a snack while resting on the couch. Peanut who believes she can and should eat everything the rest of us do decided she wanted to share the snack. So looking at mommy she began snorting away to get attention.

Mommy, who was not aware of this new habit, looked at Peanut shocked and started laughing. It really is adorable after all. But this was not the desired response and was greeted with more snorting until she was picked up. No sharing though I'm afraid.

Since then baby has done this at least once a day when circumstances are not to her liking.

I have tried repeatedly to get a picture of her doing this. However, since her desired result is attention, when you focus on her she smiles. I think she is intentionally thwarting me.

While it is cute it is also terribly annoying. Imagine sitting there trying to type something only to be assaulted by a cavalcade of snorts from your attention hungry baby. It not as if I ignore her. In fact I most certainly do not. But when she sits with me at the computer she insists on banging her little fists on the keyboard. It is great she wants to share stories with the world. Just not in the middle of a file I'm working on.

Next time I'll share with you her other annoying new habit. This one is even worse but it gets her sap of a Daddy to do what she wants.

Peanut's Six Month Old Celebration

Last Friday we had a party for baby. It was to celebrate her having been with us for six months. As anyone who has every cared for a baby knows six months is a long time. It represents at least a thousand diapers. Possibly two or three times that many (Think ten a day, at least, for 180 days). Add all the other inherent duties of a parent and you can imagine that it has been a long six months.


But, I was very excited. The emotion bordered on down right jubilation at having come this far. For my sons we waited until they were a years old to have a party. I have fond memories of my boys sitting in their high chairs trying to eat a small cake that was reserved solely for them. The result in both cases was a terrible mess. Everyone present enjoyed themselves almost as much as the baby.

I didn’t feel that we could wait that long for Peanut. So I devised the plan to celebrate six months of diaper changing fun. My wife, not surprisingly, jumped at the idea. We got her a cake, really just a giant cupcake. After dinner, we had pasta and she had sweet potatoes, everyone gathered round and watched her enjoy her cake.

Even the boys had fun. Though Buddy objects to her being the center of attention (We are working on sibling jealousy but its a tough sell).
Peanut really went at it. It was a little surprising how actively she attempted to devour the cake. Most of it ended up on her, which was also true of my boys at their birthday parties. She gave it an honest attempt though. If she had the control it would have ended up in her tummy.

Afterwards she got a bath and took a nap. My wife and I went over the many pictures I took (Close to fifty). Some of them are really funny. I can tell you that I am very excited at the prospect of her birthday party six months from now. In particular I can not wait to how she handles the cake compared to this party

On the other hand I feel terribly ambivalent. The boys seem somehow cheated since they only got one party their first year. They are too young to remember but it still seems unfair.
I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as Peanut enjoyed the cake.