the soother

often when the baby...i mean ben...is beginning to fuss or cry, we try to shove his soother in his mouth.  he most often doesn't want it.  he holds his lips together tightly or if we make it past his lips, he just pushes with his tongue.  once in awhile, he chomps down on it because he thinks it's his bottle but it only lasts momentarily before getting spit out (he's very smart...).  but there's that odd time that he's been crying and crying, trying to settle himself to sleep in our arms or wherever, that when we offer that soother, he grabs on and sucks til his little heart's content.  it soothes.  and that one in 22 times that he takes it keeps us trying it as an option every time.  

we always keep a soother in his crib with him.  in the earlier days of his life (haha) when i wasn't so savvy to the way that you're supposed to let the baby fuss until crying before you go get him (because he could and usually does go back to sleep), i would go in and try to give him his soother to try to put him back to sleep.  anyways, i'd go in and the soother would be quite far away from him.  i'd wonder, "didn't he have his soother in when he went to bed?  how did it get over here?"  i'd chalk it up to forgetfulness and figure that he hadn't had it in and i'd just set it in the bed to have nearby.  

tonight was a night that ben fussed and grunted and kicked and kicked while trying to fall asleep.  when you look into his room during these times, you can see his little feet waving around above the crib railing and wonder how is that possible?  after finally beginning to cry about his uncontrollable feet, i went in and offered the soother.  he jumped all over it, chomping down and he was instantly asleep.  a little later, i heard crazy animal sounds coming from his room so i went to check it out.  it was ben of course.  but he was still sucking that soother.  as i stood there watching him sleep (oh so peaceful), i witnessed him spit it out.   and he can launch that thing to the other side of the crib with no effort at all.  so it's not forgetfulness - he just has great projection.

"and that's what happened."    just a snippet of life with ben.