A ring wraith, an old tom cat, a billy goat and the incredible hulk (of course). What do they all have in common? They live in our house. Oh yes, all of them. And you wouldn’t like them when they are angry. Are you scared to come to our house now? Well, that’s ok, since it’s RSV/cold/flu season and we are keeping the visitors to a minimum (i.e., no one) until spring. Doctor’s orders.
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/Anyway, more about our scary roommates. Each of our kids has a unique cry. We can tell who it is from across the house.
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/Brinlee sounds like a ring wraith (ala Lord of the Rings. The scary dead kings on horses). She doesn’t cry so much as shriek. When she’s really upset she can even get that echo-y metallic sound going. It’s pretty scary. The shrieks are spaced out by about 5 seconds. They are shrill and piercing. The first ones are what you might call the warning shot across the bough. She waits to see if you respond and then lets out another one. We usually respond in time, but if we don’t, they get closer and closer together until we are completely shattered as coherent human beings. Or, if we do something she doesn’t appreciate, like touch her with cold hands or a cold wet wipe, she’ll give us one shriek, just to let you know that was not welcome and not to do it again.
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/Sawyer sounds like a one-cat cat fight, or an old tom cat wailing in the back yard. He and Kimball are probably both as loud as Brinlee, but hers are more painful due to the octave.
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/Kimball starts out sounding like a normal baby with the wa-wa-wa, but quickly escalates to a ba-ba-ba old billy goat sound if his needs are not met fast enough.
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/The incredible hulk is both Sawyer and Kimball. They love being swaddled from the armpits down. They have to have their hands free. Kimball loves to put his hands on his cheeks, and Sawyer likes to sleep with his arms over his head (like he’s surrendering, but we know that’s not really the case). If we do swaddle them (we have special swaddling blankets made of knit cotton that are pretty stretchy), they bear down, growl really loudly and start pushing out with their arms as hard as they can. It reminds me of Bruce Banner bursting out of his clothes as he turned into the incredible hulk (I’m talking about on the old TV show, not that lame excuse for a movie that came out a few years ago). Sometimes we watch them go through the transformation/liberation, and sometimes we just let their arms loose and save them the effort. It’s exercise. Tummy time for their necks, swaddling for their arms.
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/Thankfully, they are good babies who rarely get angry and rarely cry except for when they need their needs met (feeding, diaper change, etc.).Â