There is a Tiger in My Tree

from The Tiny Revolution, Michael Blanford's excellent papa blog!

This morning has been a whirl-wind of grouchy adults, a grouchy baby, a small flood in the kitchen, a scramble to get some laundry and dishes done and a pile of dog vomit that included a pen cap, a rubber band, a plastic wrapper and two leaves. Despite all this, Atom and I are getting into our daily groove. He is doing great at night with few feedings and often 4 to 5 hours of continuous sleep but that leaves the day to be punctuated with hourly feeding, non-stop diaper changing and daily excursions to keep our sanity. We are starting to come to the realization that Atom is what the “experts” call a high-needs baby. I guess it is a great thing that he finds himself most comfortable in our arms but I would be dishonest if I didn’t admit that it can really wear me down sometimes.

We have been doing some reading and have found some great ways to calm him down. Many of the methods come from Dr. Sears but I am also having some success with the book “The Happiest Baby on the Block”. Despite the cheesy name and some dubious claims, the book was recommended by our doula and a few other parents and I think has some real merit. I will talk a little more about it later. As for now, it is warming up outside and we need to get ready to take to the streets.