“Both parents then showered crying baby Julia with kisses and loving words…”
A Morning to Remember Forever
Today baby Julia had her usual morning feeding at 9:00 a.m. She fed for some thirty minutes and then played and cooed for another hour or so, watching the world around her and reaching out for her toys. Eventually Julia grew tired, then overtired, and started to fuss and cry, as she found it hard to settle down, self-soothe, and to get the sleep her mind and body craved. (This is of the many, many skills Julia is working on at four months of age!) This is Julia’s routine, more or less, repeated several times per day: feed, play, sleep, awake — feed, play, sleep, awake, etc.
Finally, Maria grew tired of Julia’s prolonged fussing, proving the verity of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s assertion that “there was never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep.” Maria went to Julia’s room and lifted her out of her crib and brought her to where husband Richard was still lying sleepily in bed. Maria laid down and with Julia belly-down on top of her and “shhhhhhed!” the baby and urged her to “sleep already!” As usual during “tummy time,” Julia began to cry even louder than before. Mommy and daddy did not enjoy the piercing, insistent cries.
Maria then turned over slightly and let Julia softly slide down onto the bed in the space between mommy and daddy; both parents quickly showered crying baby Julia with kisses and loving words; and within thirty seconds Julia fell fast asleep, parents following almost immediately. The three slept soundly for a full hour. They laid absolutely still in a close cuddle of love in the parent’s bed.
Mommy and daddy woke up first. About twenty minutes later they saw their baby Julia slowly awake, refreshed and full of smiles. You gotta love lazy, unhurried summer mornings! Still in bed at noon! The decadence!
It will be the many such mornings and afternoons of cuddling and naps, of baby toys and play mats, the bottle-feeding and rice pudding meals, and the neighborhood walks with stroller that I will remember of the summer of 2007 — this precious time never to be repeated — back when Julia was still a tiny baby.
Precious. Precious.
How lucky Maria and I are!
“You gotta love lazy, unhurried summer mornings!”
