Zen Baby

Zen Baby:

Not Zen Baby:

It's a great sense of accomplishment when we manage to get Basti to calm down or go to sleep quickly and quietly.  And it's very stressful and frustrating to have a wailing Basti and not being able to get him to calm down, despite our best attempts.

In a moment of desperation, I came up with the Zen Baby technique...  which has worked just twice for me.  First time, Basti was crying because I made him sit in his highchair for dinner, he wanted no food and just cried.  So I took his hands in mine, closed my eyes, and hummed "Om" three times (deep chest reverberating Oms).  When I opened my eyes, Basti was just looking at me.  I offered him chicken, he ended up eating a whole drumstick.  Wow.  Second time Basti wasn't feeling well and was having a hard time settling down to nap.  So Poppy and I cuddled with him in our bed and Om-ed him to sleep.  Nice.  I attempted Zen Baby on a flight but with no success...  maybe my state of mind was too frustrated or the plane was too loud or Zen Baby is just crazy?  Who knows.  But hey, whatever works!

Last week we went on a family vacation to Maui.  Basti got to get up close and personal with the ocean for the first time, although he was not a fan.  He kept shaking his head no as we inched closer to the water.  But he got to play with sand and he did get splashed in the face with salt water.  Basti also got his first choochoo train ride, and got to meet and feed koi fish.  AND he said his first sentence to Poppy (on his birthday!): "Ich hab banana" (I have banana).  But we didn't have any bananas, so he might have meant he wanted a banana.

Halfway through the vacation, Basti got sick. He had a fever and was very very very tired with not much appetite.  And a severe case of "Mamitis", he wants Mommy and only Mommy to carry him all the time.  So our flight back home was not pleasant, and then there was some turbulence so I couldn't walk him up and down the aisle to keep him entertained.  Felt like he cried half the flight, yikes.  Not a Zen flight.  It has taken him a few days to recover, but his appetite seems to be back and he is walking on his own again.