Torturing Caleb

One of the pieces of advice I was given at my shower was:

"Don't try to make a happy baby happier."

I ended up having Caleb the next day (story for some other time), but I remembered this little gem. As he's gotten older and more interactive, he is definitely a happy baby. We enjoy talking to him and dive bombing him and whatever, and he just smiles and laughs. He only cries if he's tired or hungry, so we can usually manage to help him out with one or the other, and otherwise he's content to be sitting in his chair in the kitchen with us, or laying on the couch, or pretty much whatever.

And so, I don't try to make him happier. We aren't changing formulas or his bedtime routine or worrying about whether he's sleeping in his crib or our bed. However, I do seem to be trying to test just how happy he really is. How do I do that? By torturing him frequently. These are some of the things I do to try and make him an unhappy baby.

• Clip his fingernails. Mostly I try to clip his nails while he's sleeping so he doesn't move while I do it. However, sometimes he wakes up a little, and I have clipped his little finger skin instead. And, clearly, that hurts. And he whimpers for a minute or two, and then he's good again. FAIL
• Give him his vitamins. If you smelled these things, you'd see why he makes a face. The smell is very familiar, so I'm sure I had these same vitamins, and I remember eventually just giving in, since I wasn't going to be allowed to not have them. Caleb is getting there, already. So, after making that face, he swallows the thick brown liquid and goes back to finish up his bottle quite contentedly. FAIL
• Wake him up in the morning. I try to let him sleep until he wakes up, but during the week, a girl has got to get to work. So, sometimes I have to rouse the little man from a deep slumber. Five minutes later I'll be changing his diaper or clothes and he'll look at me and flash me an enormous grin. FAIL
• Give him breathing treatments. He has had this same cough for going on six weeks. I kept taking him to the doctor, and eventually she decided it was bad enough and persistent enough that it was time for medicine. So, we have a nebulizer for administering treatments that are supposed to help us finally kick this cough. And while they are helping (slowly, but helping), he does not like that mask thing when we put it on his face. After 5 minutes or so, though, he settles in, snuggles up, and falls asleep. FAIL
• Take him to get shots. Eh. These are more stressful for me than for him. The first time he cried for nearly a minute. This last time? He didn't cry at all. FAIL

I'm sure there are other things, but these are the ones I can think of this morning while in my sleepy fog. And I will do a lot more things than this over the years (geesh! I haven't even dropped him yet -- give me time!). Don't worry...I know how lucky I am to have this little boy with a sweet disposition in my life. Here's hoping that continues into his teenage years.