The Baby Expert: The Look

One of the first things my mentor teacher told me I needed to do when I first started teaching was to get “the look” down. The “this is my house, my rules, if you don’t like it, we’re going to have major problems” look. It’s something that’s necessary if you ever want to have control of the classroom.

When dealing with a baby, you also need to get a look down if you ever want to maintain control of the household. There’s one look that’s more effective than all other looks when dealing with our baby – the indifferent look. The “you can scream and cry as long as you want because I’m just going to ignore you and surf the internet until you stop” look. I’m pretty good at this look, but the wife isn’t a huge fan because she can’t stand to hear the baby cry.

Because of this, Caitlyn has the wife tightly wrapped around her little finger now. She knows as long as she cries loud enough and throws a big enough tantrum, Mommy will pick her up and give her whatever she wants.

I suppose that’s the difference between men and women. Women have a nurturing instinct that drives them to want to comfort and coddle any child that cries. Men, on the other hand, won’t have their heartstrings tugged at so easily. I suppose this is the way Mother Nature intended to keep things in balance. If men also responded in the way that women did, we’d probably have a world full of spoiled and pampered brats.

Most of my efforts to make Caitlyn become less attached to Mommy have been undermined by the fact that the wife keeps giving the baby what she wants, mainly herself. She has yet to perfect “the look.” Maybe buying some earplugs for her would help.

This task of mine has taken on more importance and a sense of urgency in recent days because we’re closing in on July 17. This is an extremely important date because this is when the movie, The Dark Knight Rises, starts playing in theaters. I figure our best shot at seeing the movie is while my parents are still in town and can help watch the baby.

And though we still have much work to do in terms of detaching the baby from the two of us, we’ve come a long ways. Today was our first attempt at leaving Caitlyn alone with my parents.

I had the wife go out to run errands in the afternoon while I stayed home with my parents and Caitlyn. After a while, I also left the apartment, but only to sit outside the door for a few minutes before coming back in.

After doing this a few times and with Caitlyn being fine, my parents decided to take her to the children’s library down the street. This was to be their first big test. Could they handle Caitlyn for an extended period of time by themselves?

The resounding answer is ‘yes!’ After coming back after about 40 minutes, my parents happily reported that Caitlyn had fun at the library with all the other children. I figure after a few more outings like this, they should have the confidence and know-how to take care of the baby by themselves. The notion of seeing The Dark Knight Rises in the theaters is slowly becoming a reality. The dawn is coming!