Friday, January 30, 2009

Communication

I wonder what my baby would say to me if he could talk. Yesterday, Spiff and I were running an errand, and Gunner had a meltdown in his car seat. There was no apparent reason for it. He wasn't tired or hungry, and Spiff was in the back seat with him. Yet Gunner cried inconsolably for about fifteen minutes. Once we reached our destination, he was fine.

It makes me wonder what babies think when weird things bother them. I wonder if his foot fell asleep, or if he was being pinched by something in the car seat, or if he was too hot. I also wonder what he thinks when he gets a sore throat. I have also wondered how it is for him when he wakes up hungry in the middle of the night, and it's dark and he has no way of getting food for himself. He can only cry and hope that those big friendly people who take care of him will eventually come and help him.

Even though he doesn't talk, Gunner is pretty good at communicating to us. He cries when he's hungry, and he squawks when he's tired. He fusses when he has the hiccups. It still makes me wish he would say, "Momma, my foot has gone to sleep and I'm stuck in this uncomfortable car seat. Would you please pull the car over and get me out?"

But then again, even if he could say this, I have to wonder if I would listen. I would probably just say, "Just a few minutes. We're almost there." And I would keep on driving because the errand has to be run...Doesn't it?

2 comments:

Madame Palmkey said...

I'll bet he was thinking "I'm worried about my Auntie and there is war in the Middle East and institutionalized rape (whatever that is, it sounds bad!) in Somalia, the economy has tanked, Daddy leaves us every day for a long time and we're in two wars right now! I am worried!" but you can't be on red alert all the time so after 15 minutes he decided to worry about what he could control.

Lauren said...

Alas... the random scream. My tyke does it as well. He will be smiling and laughing and then in less than two seconds, here comes the screams. What gives?