The 'I'm hungry' cry:
This usually happens after she wakes up from her sleep. Most of the time it's her empty tummy which wakes her up so she pretty much expects to be fed as soon as she wakes up. In fact, you can never feed her quick enough and her cry sounds like she's been starving for days. She wants her milk NOW, not in 5 minutes, not in 30 seconds, NOOOWWWWWWW!!! WAAAHHHHHHHHHH.... And as she gets closer to my boobs, she instinctively turns her head, looks for the nipple and opens her mouth wide, and pants like a thirsty little puppy until she gets her milk. It's a very cute sight :)
The 'I'm being a fussy eater' cry:
This happens when the milk flow slows after the initial few minutes and Anna is getting lazy with her sucking. It's not really a cry but more like a little girly scream. If she's particularly annoyed it'd turn into more of a coughing cry (usually accompanied by a few sharts). This is easily settled with a few distractions, including taking her to the mirror in the bathroom which is a particular favourite of hers right now.
The 'Why did you wake me up early?' cry:
From time to time we have to move her from one mode of transport to another, e.g. from the car capsule into the pram. And without fail, no matter how careful we are, she wakes up from the unbuckling and buckling of her seat belt. This cry is pretty loud and she usually pulls a sad face to let you know that waking her up early is just wrong. Most of the time we can settle her by going for a walk (if she's in the pram), letting her suck on my pinky (if she's in the car capsule), breastfeeding her (if nothing else works).
The 'How could you let the doctor hurt me?' cry:
This has been one of the hardest cries for me to witness. As she went for her first round of immunisation at 8 weeks, it was up to me to hold her still while the doctor gives her, not one, but two needles. I had her in the Baby Bjorn carrier and as the needles went in, she looked up at me, gave me a look which said 'why are you letting this happen to me?' and let out an almighty wail. Needless to say, I was feeling guilty for days!
The 'Ouch, I've just head-butted myself onto your collar bone' cry:
There's a second of silence, followed by those lips curling downwards as she registers the pain and then.....WAAAAHHHHHHHH....this one is always accompanied with huge tears and extra sad face. Luckily it's not a cry that usually lasts.
The 'I'm thirsty' cry:
Refer to 'I'm hungry' cry, because it's the same.
The 'I'm tired but can't fall asleep' cry:
Anna is a really good night sleeper, when all the lights are out and everything's quiet she can usually fall asleep right after each night feed. But during the day and the early evenings, it's another story. After about an hour of feeding and play time, she usually gets tired. Her movements become jerky, she loses eye contact with you and there's always a few yawns. So we usually know when she's ready for bed. By now we've worked out a pretty good routine to prepare her for bed – making sure nappy is changed and she's burped, we take her into the bedroom, blinds drawn for a bit of quiet time. After a few minutes, it's time to put her down into her bassinet. If we're lucky, she's happy to look around for a bit and she can put herself to sleep if we leave her to it. But most of the time, she looks at you like you're about to put her up for adoption and even before her head hits the bed she starts to cry. This usually starts off quite soft, not really crying but just a bit of grizzling to complain about being tired. Again, if we're lucky, she'll fall asleep with a bit of rubbing of her chest and a little sucking of the dummy. When she's having an unsettled day, the crying will get louder and louder and she'd start to roll her head left and right while kicking her legs back and forth. The intensity gets stronger and stronger until she actually keeps herself awake with all the noise and movement and then all hell breaks lose....WWWWAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH, big tears, extra sad face and thirsty cry all roll into one. And then it's time to pick her up and start the sleeping routine all over again.
After all this talk of crying, please enjoy a nice smiley photo of Anna, taken when I took her to Coogee Beach the other day. She had a lot of fun watching me blow raspberries.
