Screaming

From an e-mail I sent to a friend:
 

"Our latest excitement:

"John was teething something fierce last week. He was cranky and clingy and he quit eating solid food - just bottles.

"Well, he's over that now. He's his own happy self. But! He was getting up in the middle of the night last week to eat. That's cool; he wasn't eating enough during the day so he was probably hungry.

"Now, though, he's getting PLENTY to eat during the day and still getting up at two or so and demanding a bottle. This won't do. So last night we figured we'd just let him cry it out.

"For an HOUR the boy stood in his crib and screamed at us as if we were deaf or stupid or possibly both. We kept laying him down and he kept popping up like a determined boxer who just won't lay down. Every few minutes one of us would go over and lay him down and try to calm him. He'd be back up and screaming by the time either me or Sonya had made it back to bed.

"The noise was incredible. It was like an airplane - a big one - in our bedroom.

"Are we agreed," I yelled at Sonya at one point, "that he's probably not going back to sleep if he's standing up? And screaming?"

"Finally, after an hour, I gave him a little water. Satisfied that he had won, he went back to sleep.

"So Sonya and I are both a little punchy today. Ah, the rewards of parenthood!"