Overall, Maddox is a good baby. He’s a charmer in the morning, a wild man in the evening, and your standard crying newborn at night. However he does have his, shall we say, moments, when nothing you do will seem to calm him down. One option I found was to put him in his “organic baby safari” outfit and sprint around the apartment, pretending to hunt animals on the African plains (yes, I know he’s far too young to really understand what we’re doing, but at least it keeps me entertained!).

Unfortunately, after being gone from the house for 10 hours, I don’t always have the energy to dash around the house. It wasn’t until yesterday that both Leanne and I realized an excellent alternative: Music and singing.

We have done in the past of course, but it wasn’t until yesterday that I realized how suddenly and powerfully it affects Mads. He can be in any state of crying – be it small whimpers or screaming bloody murder, and usually after just a few notes from a song he’ll stop crying. The song itself doesn’t seem to matter in the slightest either. I’ve sung everything from Weezer to Ben Folds to Grateful Dead and he’s happy with everything.

I know it might not mean much this early in his life, and if anything I’m happy to know of a way to make him instantly happy, but I hope this is early signs of a love for music.

And by the way, since I know at least one English major reads this blog: I do realize I’m using the wrong “version” of this oft-quoted phrase for the subject, but it was just too good to pass up. Not to mention the original version of the quote, involving “soothing” and “breast”, is apropos to the topic anyway!

Tags: crying, sleep, tranquil moments