The Baby Expert: I'm a Believer

Recently, the baby’s been waking up about 4 or 5 times in the middle of the night, screaming and crying. She’s not hungry and being comforted by the wife doesn’t help either. A couple of theories from the wife include teething, being over-stimulated during the day, gas in the stomach, food allergies that result in itchy skin, and nightmares.

I’m not ready to weigh in on what I think is the cause, but I do know one thing that might make it stop – having the wife not there. About 3 weeks ago, the wife was gone for 3 days and 2 nights to attend a wedding. During this time, I was in charge, and Caitlyn behaved wonderfully and slept peacefully those 2 nights for me.

So when the wife had to go take care of some out-of-town, family business early this past Sunday morning with her parents, I told her to spend the night before at her parent’s house. This would give me the opportunity to see if I could duplicate Caitlyn’s sleeping pattern again. I also planned to keep the camcorder running throughout the night as proof to the wife that she could make it through the night without throwing a fit.

Therefore, it was decided that we would eat dinner at her parents’ place, and I would take Caitlyn home by myself while the wife stayed behind for the night. When it was time for us to leave, Caitlyn put up such a crying fit that my mother-in-law told the wife to go back home with us.

I repeatedly told her that everything would be ok once I got Caitlyn out the door, but it was obvious my mother-in-law wasn’t buying it. I don’t blame her. Everybody only sees how Caitlyn reacts when I take her away from the wife. Only I get to see how she completely changes character once we’re alone.

This is exactly what happened once Caitlyn and I left the in-laws. She immediately stopped crying; I put her in the car seat, drove home, and put her to bed. No fussing, no crying, no whining. She woke up at 12:30 a.m. for a feeding, went back to sleep, and then got up for good at 6:40 a.m. No fussing, no crying, no whining. And then day proceeded as it normally would if Mommy weren’t there – wonderfully!

This is obviously not the Caitlyn most people know, but that’s the one I know. And the best part of it is, it’s all caught on tape! All 10 hours, 33 gigabytes of it. The wife had no choice but to become a believer.

As a teacher, I would always be highly skeptical when a parent would tell me their child was a perfect angel at home whenever I would tell them they were constantly misbehaving in class. But maybe it is possible that they are speaking the truth. I mean, look at Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer. Misbehaving pooches become angels with him. Am I saying I’m Cesar Milan? I don’t know. Am I? All I know is the proof is in the videos.